HP's The changes of light
by fathermoony
Summary: This is my take on Remus and Arthur taking charge and being a father figure for Harry after POA, along with the several other characters having a sibling relationship with the boy who lived. Mention of child abuse. On hold, but NOT abandoned.
1. The Boy Who Lived

**I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. Several of the beginning chapters will be from the other books.**

James Potter and Sirius Black were looking for something to do when they found this book called **Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince's the Changes of Light**.

They decided to read it, but first they went to find their friend Remus Lupin and James' girlfriend Lilly Potter.

They found the two in the Library doing their homework. After they explain about the book they went to the room of requirement and decided to read.

Sirius decided to read the first.

**The Boy Who Lived**

"Well this should be interesting" the others nodded agreeing with Sirius.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. **

"Who would want to be normal" humped James.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense. **

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. **

"What are drills" asked Sirius. Remus explained who was taking Muggle Studies and Sirius nodded and then continued reading.

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. **

**Mrs. Dursley was a thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, who looked like a goose, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.**

"That sounds like my sister, she never changes" Lilly said sadly, she did miss being able to talk to her sister who refused to talk to her own sister just because she was different than her.

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere seeing that he looked exactly like his father, just as heavy and looking like a pig.**

"They shouldn't compare these people to animals, it really is an insult not only that but its animal cruetly" exclaimed Sirius who was trying to be "serious." Everyone just laughed.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. **

"And what is wrong with Potters" James said clutching his fists. "There is nothing wrong with the Potters, they're the best" Sirius said draping an arm over his best mate's shoulder. "That's right Prongs" Moony said agreeing with his friend.

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister,** **because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish** **as it was possible to be; meaning that they were "normal" everyday people who did not go dressing in strange outfits or saying made up words. **

Everyone just glared at the book.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. They feared that the neighbors would chase them out of town, if they were seeing with such as unusual people, which is what the Potters are. **

**The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"I wouldn't want my son around your son anyways" said James.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, a grayish blue tie, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair. **

"What a brat."

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. **

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

"**Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive. **

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar — a cat reading a map. **

"I bet it's Minnie" said James and Sirius. Moony and Lilly just rolled his eyes.

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen — then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive — no, **_**looking **_**at the sign; cats couldn't read maps **_**or **_**signs, he definitely needs to drink more coffee. **

"That's what you think" sniggered Sirius.

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day. **

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in weird cloaks. **

"Oh dear that's not good the muggles will notice" stated Moony. All his friends nodded agreeing with him.

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes — the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together.**

**Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt —these people were obviously collecting for something… yes, that would be it, charity, well they weren't getting anything from them. **

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills. **

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. **_**He **_**didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.**

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. **

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery. **

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made his stomach uneasy. **

**This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying. **

"**The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard —" **

" — **yes, their son, Harry —" **

"Oh dear, I don't like this" Lilly said. "Oh don't worry honey I'm sure nothing is wrong" James said trying to convince Lilly, but didn't sound very convincing at all.

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. **

"Yes he died." "It's just expression Padfoot" sighed Remus. "Hay one could hope can't they."

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. **

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone,** **and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking… no, he was being stupid.**

**As he was rubbing his large belly, he sat there thinking, Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew **_**was **_**called Harry. **

**He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. **

"He doesn't even know his own nephew's name" Lilly said gritting her teeth.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her — if **_**he'd **_**had a sister like that… but all the same, those people in cloaks… **

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door. **

"**Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! **

"What!" James and Sirius started dancing, Lilly and Remus were too shocked. After a while Sirius sat back down and continued to read.

**Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!" **

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley and walked off.**

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination. **

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw—and it didn't improve his mood — was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. **

**It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes. **

"**Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look that made him and his large belly want to deflate into nothingness. **

"Yep definitely Minnie" James and Sirius said. Lilly and Moony said, "You two would know seeing that see gives you that look every time you do something." "Knowing them they got into trouble at least three times a day" Remus said who laughed with the others at a pouting James and Sirius.

**Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife. **

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: **

"_**And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?" **_

"_**Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early — it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight." **_

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…**

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. He just decided not to ruin her day by mention such nonsense.**

**Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something. **

"I wonder what she's doing there" stated Lilly, the others just shrugged.

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of — well, he didn't think he could bear it. **

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters **_**were **_**involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind… He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on — he yawned and turned over — it couldn't affect **_**them**_**… **

**How very wrong he was. **

"OH dear" stated James. Lilly was biting her nails. Everyone looked nervous now they didn't like the sound of this.

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed. **

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore. **

No one decided to talk, they just wanted to get the suspense over with.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known." **

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. **

**He clicked it again — the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it. **

"**Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall." **

Everyone smiled. Sirius handed James his winnings for they had a bet who the cat was.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. "How did you know it was me?" she asked. **

"**My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly." **

"**You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall. **

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here." **

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily. **

"**Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no — even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." **

**She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent — I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense." **

"**You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years." **

"**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors." **

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really **_**has **_**gone?"**

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. **

"**We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

"**You are your sweets" humphed McGonagall.**

"**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if Voldermort **_**has **_**gone —" **

"**The owls are nothing next to the **_**rumors **_**that are flying around. You know what they're saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?" **

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer. **

"**What they're **_**saying**_**," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. **

Lilly and James grabbed a hold of each other who were pale. Sirius and Moony put an arm on James' shoulder.

**The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are — are — that they're — **_**dead**_**." **

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped. **

Lilly and James cried. Sirius who couldn't take it, got up and left. James went and found him. Several minutes letter they came back. Everyone had blood shot eyes.

"**Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

**Dumbledore reached out and ramped an arm around her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily as she began to cry for both Lilly and James. **

"Looks like Minnie liked you Prongs" Sirius said trying to lighten the mood.

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. **

"What, that…" all four friends started swearing.

**But he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke — and that's why he's gone." **

**Dumbledore nodded glumly. **

"**It's — it's **_**true**_**?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"**We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know." **

"Wow."

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?" **

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_**why **_**you're here, of all places?" **

"**I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now." **

"Over my dead body" Lilly yelled. No one decided to bring up that she is dead because no one wanted to deal with her temper that or upset her.

"**You don't mean – you **_**can't **_**mean the people who live **_**here**_**?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "You can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son — I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!" **

"**It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter." **

"**A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter?**

"What good will that do" Lilly started vented. "Promise me Prongs and Moony that you will take Harry away from those awful relatives" James sated to his friends. "We will you can count on us" Sirius said. "That's right" Moony said slapping Sirius back, he would do anything for his pack and he knew Sirius felt the same way.

**These people will never understand him! He'll be famous — a legend — I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future — there will be books written about Harry — every child in our world will know his name!" **

"**Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?" **

"Damn he's right, he would be an arrogant git with a huge head just like his father" both Moony and Lilly said. "Oi." They laughed at a pouting James.

**Professor McGonagall then said, "I know Lilly will be kicking and screaming in her grave if she knew that her sister, the sister who treated Lilly with discrase, the sister that made Lilly come crying after she would spend the holidays with her family. I won't allow it. Why not Remus instead, after all the Potters were his friends and beesides he will raise the boy the muggle way.**

**Dumbledore thought about this his wife did have an excellent point, but however he knew he was right, but before he could say any more a low rumbling sound had interrupted his thought. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky — and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them. **

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. **

"Sweet I want motorcycle" Sirius said who began to drool.

**He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so **_**wild **_**— long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?" **

"**Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

"Yes sweet!" "Wait why would you let them take our son to those awful muggles" asked James. "I don't know" shrugged Sirius. James was thinking if he died Sirius would try and avenge him and Lilly's death.

"**No problems, were there?" **

"**No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a thunderbolt.**

"Cool" James and Sirius said.

"**Is that where —?" whispered Professor McGonagall. **

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever." **

"**Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?" **

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well — give him here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with." **

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house. **

"**Could I — could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog. **

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the Muggles!" **

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it —Lily an' James dead — an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles —" **

"**Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out. **

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations." **

"**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall — Professor Dumbledore, sir." **

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night. **

"**I shall see you soon, I expect, dear Professor," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply, "I'll be there in a bit".**

**Dumbledore packed his friend on the back, he knew to let her be. **

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four. **

"**Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone. **

**The lights were still out and if anyone could look out now all they would she is Professor McGonagall talking to someone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley… He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter — the boy who lived!"**

Sirius then handed the book to James.


	2. Moony Says Goodbye

James read the title

**Moony says Goodbye**

"What do you mean goodbye" shouted Sirius. "Padfoot just let Prongs read" stated Remus.

**McGonagall was looking at the sleeping baby boy who was sleeping peacefully who was oblivious to what was going on. **

At this James put his arm around Lilly and she leaned up against his shoulder.

**Early today baby Harry had lost his parents to Lord Voldermort. **

Everyone had a sad smile. Lilly started crying again.

**Dumbledore had decided that it would be best for Harry to be raised at his Aunt's house, Lilly's older sister Petunia. **

"That's the stupidest thing I have heard of" glared Lilly. The others were too shocked at her for putting down their beloved Headmaster.

**Noises in the background shock her out her thoughts, "Who's there." Nothing, "I'm warning you." **

Everyone gasped hoping it wasn't death eaters trying to finish what their master had started.

"**Good evening Professor" out steps a tall muscular man in his late twenties with premature graying hair. "Good evening Remus" she gives the young lad a small sad smile. She can see the effects of losing his friends have definitely started taking a toll on him. He is pale as a ghost and has freshly worn scratch marks on his face. **

At this James, Lilly, and Sirius hug Remus. "I wonder wear I am" Sirius asks. The others shrug their shoulders. James as an arm draped over his friend's should, while Sirius has his over Remus' other shoulder.

**She doesn't need to ask him what he's doing here. Remus steps up and looks down at the young baby and sighs, "It's not fair to have lost some much." **

All four friends are now teary eyed.

**McGonagall walks over to him, he looks up with tears falling down on his face, he doesn't even try to wipe them away. "I wish I had died instead of Lily and James," cries Remus. **

"You don't mean that Remus" Lilly says looking at the book, but Remus knows that Lilly is really talking to him states, "I might as well be dead because you are my family and without you I" Remus can't finish they all hug again.

**McGonagall makes him look in her tear eyes as well "You don't mean that Remus. You have to be strong your friends would have wanted you to live." **

"That's right" stated all three, which Remus smiles at his friends.

"**Put don't you see it Minnie, I lost my pack I don't have anyone" as he drops his head. **

"That's not true you still have people alive who care about you Remus" stated James.

"**That's not true" he looks up, "you still have people who care about you Remus. **

"See even Minnie agrees with me."

**You still have Harry even though you can't raise him you can still be there for him, when the time comes you will know until then you will continue to watch over him as he grows." **

"That's right at least one of us Marauder's watches over him" Sirius states. "What do you mean" James ask Sirius. "Oh come on do you think I would sit back and watch my godson go to be raised by muggles who hate magic." Lilly thought more about what Sirius said and thought to herself that Sirius wouldn't not just sit back and let his best friend who was like a brother to him get murder he would want to take revenge, she just hopes that she was wrong and Sirius was okay.

"**But what about" he starts. "Never mind that we will figure that out, come lets go will have much to discuss." He sighs, "Yeah you're right." He made a solemn vow to be there for his cub, this was not goodbye but a see you later. He kiss Harry on top of his forehead, the boy didn't even stir.**

**And so the two with one last sad look at the sleeping Harry Potter walked of into the night.**

Please review, I wrote these first two chapters to give some back ground for Harry and Remus' relationship there will be some from when Remus taught during Harry's 3rd year and some of Sirius and Harry during both 3rd and 5th year as well.


	3. Moony's Thoughts

**I feel that I rushed too much through Harry's third year, so I am going to slow down and read due to his third year with Remus and Harry bonding and little Harry and Padfoot bonding (while Sirius is in his Animagus form). Also mention of Harry's second and first year at Hogwarts.**

Lilly decided to read the next chapter.

**Moony's thoughts**

"Huh" stated Sirius but from a glare from Lilly shut him up.

**Remus Lupin could not believe it. He was exactly going to be teaching at Hogwarts this year.**

At this everyone clapped causing Remus to blush. Lilly hugged her friend making Remus even more embarrassed and a dark shade of red.

**Not only was he going to be teaching, he would be teaching is best subject, Defense Against the Dark Arts. He could not wait to get started. It was like his dream had finally come true. He was shocked when Albus Dumbledore had came and asked him to teach. He reassured the young man that the students would not be in any danger. Remus Lupin looked like a nice guy**

"That's because he is" stated Sirius. "Yeah Moony's the best" James said agreeing with his friend. "I think they are talking about his secret" Lilly stated. The others gave her a look, "She already knows about it" Remus told his friends. Lilly resumed reading.

**But he had a deep dark secret that only his closet friends knew about. Unfortunately three were dead and one was in Azkaban.**

"What" stated James and Sirius. They knew that Lilly and James were dead, but hoped that the others weren't dead. "Well that explains why I couldn't take care of Harry, I must have died." "But Sirius what about were it states one is in prison" asks Lilly. He just shrugged his shoulders, "Well maybe Peter is dead and I am in prison because I finally cracked and killed my so called mother." Everyone laughed at this, that had to be it because Peter was too dumb to go for Prison for killing someone and he would have been killed for his stupidity.

**The one that had escaped is now on the run from the ministry.**

"Cool" stated both James and Sirius. Lilly rolled her eyes. Remus gave a sad smile; if his friends were dead and one was a criminal then he would be all alone.

**His train of thoughts was interrupted by a knock at the door. When he opened it open there stood a witch wearing an emerald green cloak. He smiled at motioned her to come in, "hello Professor, it is a pleasure to see you here." "Hello Remus are you and please I am no longer your professor you may call me Minerva" McGonagall stated smiled at her young college. **

"No fair, Moony gets a smile." "Well what do you expect I am her favorite." "Teacher's pet" muttered Sirius to James. "I herd that black." Sirius now had pink hair with blue ribbons in it. After everyone stopped laughing except for Sirius, Lilly resumed reading.

"**What you like some tea?" "Yes please." After Remus came back and gave her tea they started talking. "I am here to talk to you about Harry." "Why what's wrong?" "Nothing is wrong; I just thought you would like to know about his first two years." "Yes please" Remus stated sounding like a kid in a candy store. "Well he defiantly takes after his parents" smiling the Professor.**

"Looks like Moony teacher's pet" stated James, which he too found to be hexed, but this time by his future wife.

"**He is very talented in like James in both Quidditch and transfiguration." **

At this James smiled, he was too mad about the hex Lilly put on him and plus Lilly threatened to silence him and Sirius.

"**He has his mother's gift in Charms along with her organizational skills and common sense."**

"Yes" stated Lilly.

"**Thank Merlin at least he doesn't get into trouble like James" stated Remus.**

"And what does that suppose to mean" James said glaring, but it didn't work seeing that he had green hair with yellow and silver bows.

**McGonagall laughed, "Yes it seems that way, but he does have a tendency to get into trouble." At this Remus raised an eyebrow. She sighed, "His first year he fought off a full grown mountain troll, in the middle of the night smothered a dragon to be taken by Charlie Weasley to Romania, which I found out from Hagrid later in the year, then he ended up facing Voldermort at the end of the year, who was sharing a body with Professor Quirrel from gain the Philosopher's stone.**

Everyone had their mouths dropped open they were too speechless to say anything.

"**So it seems that he doesn't go looking for trouble like James, instead trouble finds him" Remus stated. McGonagall nodded and she told Remus about Harry's second year. He couldn't believe it that not only is Harry a parselmouth, but he went down into the chamber of secrets to rescue Ginny Weasley and fought off a basilisk and Voldermort again with the Sword of Gryffindor.**

Remus pasted everyone some chocolate, which they ate. They still didn't know how to react about what they learned so Lilly kept reading.

**The two talked for another hour about Harry and then McGonagall had to leave. After she left, he sighed, it looked like this year was going to be interesting after hearing about James and Lilly's son, he just hopped that the boy would like to be around him and with that thought he finished getting ready for the train would be leaving in just a couple days.**

They decided they needed a break and think about what they had read.

**To be continued….**


	4. Owl Post

**Owl Post **Remus read after the friends thought about Harry's first two years at Hogwarts. James and Lilly decided to keep a journal, so that they could discuss the matter with Dumbledore. Sirius kept a journal for prank ideas.

**Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year.**

"Damn Dursleys" muttered Sirius who got his note book ready. James and Lilly got theirs ready as well.

**For another, he really wanted to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night.**

Lilly started writing down, she looked up and noticed the other two were not writing, "Well why aren't you two writing" she barked to James and Sirius who quickly started writing. Remus hid his smiling in the book by continue reading.

**And he also happened to be a wizard.**

**It was nearly midnight, and he was lying on his stomach in bed, the blankets drawn right over his head like a tent, a flashlight in one hand and a large leather-bound book (A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot) propped open against the pillow. Harry moved the tip of his eagle-feather quill down the page, frowning as he looked for something that would help him write his essay, 'Witch Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless — discuss.'**

**The quill paused at the top of a likely looking paragraph. Harry pushed his round glasses up the bridge of his nose, moved his flashlight closer to the book, and read:**

**Non-magic people (more commonly known as Muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times, but not very good at recognizing it. On the rare occasion that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever. The witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame-Freezing Charm and then pretend to shriek with pain while enjoying a gentle, tickling sensation. Indeed, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burned so much that she allowed herself to be caught no less than forty-seven times in various disguises.**

**Harry put his quill between his teeth and reached underneath his pillow for his inkbottle and a roll of parchment. Slowly and very carefully he unscrewed the ink bottle, dipped his quill into it, and began to write, pausing every now and then to listen, because if any of the Dursleys heard the scratching of his quill on their way to the bathroom, he'd probably find himself locked in the cupboard under the stairs for the rest of the summer without food for several days and even a black eye.**

"What" shouted all four friends. The three quickly started writing stuff down. Remus mediated for a few seconds before reading again.

**The Dursley family of Number Four, Privet Drive, was the reason that Harry never enjoyed his summer holidays. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and their son, Dudley, were Harry's only living relatives. They were Muggles, and they had a very medieval attitude toward magic. Harry's dead parents, who had been a witch and wizard themselves, were never mentioned under the Dursleys' roof. For years, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had hoped that if they kept Harry as downtrodden as possible, they would be able to squash the magic out of him. **

James and Lilly both glared at the book, while Remus and Sirius growled.

**To their fury, they had not been unsuccessful. These days they lived in terror of anyone finding out that Harry had spent most of the last two years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The most they could do, however, was to lock away Harry's spell books, wand, cauldron, and broomstick at the start of the summer break, and forbid him to talk to the neighbors.**

**This separation from his spell books had been a real problem for Harry, because his teachers at Hogwarts had given him a lot of holiday work. One of the essays, a particularly nasty one about shrinking potions, was for Harry's least favorite teacher, Professor Snape, who would be delighted to have an excuse to give Harry detention for a month. **

"Git" muttered both James and Sirius who both conjured another notebook entitled Snape.

**Harry had therefore seized his chance in the first week of the holidays. While Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley had gone out into the front garden to admire Uncle Vernon's new company car (in very loud voices, so that the rest of the street would notice it too), Harry had crept downstairs, picked the lock on the cupboard under the stairs,** **which he learned thanks to Ron's twin brothers, ****grabbed some of his books, and hidden them in his bedroom. **

"I already like those two, they sound like"

"Marauder material" James finished for Sirius. Lilly and Remus just rolled their eyes.

**As long as he didn't leave spots of ink on the sheets, the Dursleys need never know that he was studying magic by night.**

**Harry was particularly keen to avoid trouble with his aunt and uncle at the moment, as they were already in an especially bad mood with him, all because he'd received a telephone call from a fellow wizard one week into the school vacation.**

**Ron Weasley, who was one of Harry's best friends at Hogwarts, came from a whole family of wizards. This meant that he knew a lot of things Harry didn't, but had never used a telephone before.**

**Most unluckily, it had been Uncle Vernon who had answered the call.**

"**Vernon Dursley speaking."**

**Harry, who happened to be in the room at the time, froze as he heard Ron's voice answer.**

"**HELLO? HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I — WANT — TO — TALK — TO — HARRY — POTTER!"**

The three boys laughed, while Lilly smirked.

**Ron was yelling so loudly that Uncle Vernon jumped and held the receiver a foot away from his ear, staring at it with an expression of mingled fury and alarm.**

"**WHO IS THIS?" he roared in the direction of the mouthpiece. "WHO ARE YOU?"**

"**RON — WEASLEY!" Ron bellowed back, as though he and Uncle Vernon were speaking from opposite ends of a football field. "I'M — A — FRIEND — OF — HARRY'S — FROM — SCHOOL —"**

**Uncle Vernon's small eyes swiveled around to Harry, who was rooted to the spot.**

"**THERE IS NO HARRY POTTER HERE!" he roared, now holding the receiver at arm's length, as though frightened it might explode. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT SCHOOL YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! NEVER CONTACT ME AGAIN! DON'T YOU COME NEAR MY FAMILY!"**

**And he threw the receiver back onto the telephone as if dropping a poisonous spider.**

**The fight that had followed had been one of the worst ever.**

"**HOW DARE YOU GIVE THIS NUMBER TO PEOPLE LIKE — PEOPLE LIKE YOU!" Uncle Vernon had roared, spraying Harry with spit, grabbing him by the hair and throwing him in his room.**

There was nothing but curses for Vernon Dursley.

**Fortunately Vernon decided not to hit him like last summer.**

"What do you mean" growled all four.

**Ron obviously realized that he'd gotten Harry into trouble, because he hadn't called again. Harry's other best friend from Hogwarts, Hermione Granger, hadn't been in touch either. Harry suspected that Ron had warned Hermione not to call, which was a pity, because Hermione, the cleverest witch in Harry's year, had Muggle parents, knew perfectly well how to use a telephone, and would probably have had enough sense not to say that she went to Hogwarts.**

**So Harry had had no word from any of his wizarding friends for five long weeks, and this summer was turning out to be almost as bad as the last one. There was just one very small improvement — after swearing that he wouldn't use her to send letters to any of his friends, Harry had been allowed to let his owl, Hedwig, out at night. Uncle Vernon had given in because of the racket Hedwig made if she was locked in her cage all the time.**

**Harry finished writing about Wendelin the Weird and paused to listen again. The silence in the dark house was broken only by the distant, grunting snores of his enormous cousin, Dudley. It must be very late, Harry thought. His eyes were itching with tiredness. Perhaps he'd finish this essay tomorrow night…**

**He replaced the top of the ink bottle; pulled an old pillowcase from under his bed; put the flashlight, A History of Magic, his essay, quill, and ink inside it; got out of bed; and hid the lot under a loose floorboard under his bed. Then he stood up, stretched, and checked the time on the luminous alarm clock on his bedside table.**

**It was one o'clock in the morning. Harry's stomach gave a funny jolt. He had been thirteen years old, without realizing it, for a whole hour.**

**Yet another unusual thing about Harry was how little he looked forward to his birthdays. He had never received a birthday card in his life. The Dursleys had completely ignored his last two birthdays, and he had no reason to suppose they would remember this one.**

**Harry walked across the dark room, past Hedwig's large, empty cage, to the open window. He leaned on the sill, the cool night air pleasant on his face after a long time under the blankets. Hedwig had been absent for two nights now. Harry wasn't worried about her: she'd been gone this long before. But he hoped she'd be back soon — she was the only living creature in this house who didn't flinch at the sight of him.**

**Harry, though still rather small and skinny for his age, had grown a few inches over the last year. His jet-black hair, however, was just as it always had been — stubbornly untidy, whatever he did to it. The eyes behind his glasses were bright green, and on his forehead, clearly visible through his hair, was a thin scar, shaped like a bolt of lightning.**

**Of all the unusual things about Harry, this scar was the most extraordinary of all. It was not, as the Dursleys had pretended for ten years, a souvenir of the car crash that had killed Harry's parents, because Lily and James Potter had not died in a car crash. They had been murdered, murdered by the most feared Dark wizard for a hundred years, Lord Voldermort. Harry had escaped from the same attack with nothing more than a scar on his forehead, where Voldemort's curse, instead of killing him, had rebounded upon its originator. Barely alive, Voldermort had fled…**

**But Harry had come face-to-face with him at Hogwarts. Remembering their last meeting as he stood at the dark window, Harry had to admit he was lucky even to have reached his thirteenth birthday.**

"That's just sad" Sirius shook his head. James had to comfort Lilly. Remus looked very depressed.

**He scanned the starry sky for a sign of Hedwig, perhaps soaring back to him with a dead mouse dangling from her beak, expecting praise. Gazing absently over the rooftops, it was a few seconds before Harry realized what he was seeing.**

**Silhouetted against the golden moon, and growing larger every moment, was a large, strangely lopsided creature, and it was flapping in Harry's direction. He stood quite still, watching it sink lower and lower. For a split second he hesitated, his hand on the window latch, wondering whether to slam it shut. But then the bizarre creature soared over one of the street lamps of Privet Drive, and Harry, realizing what it was, leapt aside.**

**Through the window soared three owls, two of them holding up the third, which appeared to be unconscious. They landed with a soft flump on Harry's bed, and the middle owl, which was large and gray, keeled right over and lay motionless. There was a large package tied to its legs.**

**Harry recognized the unconscious owl at once — his name was Errol, and he belonged to the Weasley family. Harry dashed to the bed, untied the cords around Errol's legs, took off the parcel, and then carried Errol to Hedwig's cage. Errol opened one bleary eye, gave a feeble hoot of thanks, and began to gulp some water.**

**Harry turned back to the remaining owls. One of them, the large snowy female, was his own Hedwig. She, too, was carrying a parcel and looked extremely pleased with herself. She gave Harry an affectionate nip with her beak as he removed her burden, and then flew across the room to join Errol.**

**Harry didn't recognize the third owl, a handsome tawny one, but he knew at once where it had come from, because in addition to a third package, it was carrying a letter bearing the Hogwarts crest. When Harry relieved this owl of its burden, it ruffled its feathers importantly, stretched its wings, and took off through the window into the night.**

**Harry sat down on his bed and grabbed Errol's package,** **ripped off the brown paper, and discovered a present wrapped in gold and his first ever birthday card. Fingers trembling slightly, he opened the envelope.**

They all looked too sad to say anything, but write in their notebooks. Remus made a mental note to send a birthday card in the future and before their for his cub.

**Two pieces of paper fell out — a letter and a newspaper clipping.**

**The clipping had clearly come out of the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet, because thepeople in the black-and-white picture were moving. Harry picked up the clipping, smoothed it out, and read:**

**MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE**

**Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, has won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw.**

**A delighted Mr. Weasley told the Daily Prophet, "We will be spending the gold on a summer holiday in Egypt, where our eldest son, Bill, works as a curse breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank."**

**The Weasley family will be spending a month in Egypt, returning for the start of the new school year at Hogwarts, which five of the Weasley children currently attend.**

**Harry scanned the moving photograph, and a grin spread across his face as he saw all nine of the Weasleys waving furiously at him, standing in front of a large pyramid. **

"Arthur has been a little busy hasn't he" stated Sirius. James nodded. "Black get your mind out of the gutter" stated Lilly.

**Plump little Mrs. Weasley; tall, balding Mr. Weasley; six sons; and one daughter, all (though the black-and-white picture didn't show it) with flaming-red hair. Right in the middle of the picture was Ron, tall and gangling, with his pet rat, Scabbers, on his shoulder and his arm around his little sister, Ginny.**

**Harry couldn't think of anyone who deserved to win a large pile of gold more than the Weasleys, who were very nice and extremely poor.**

**He picked up Ron's letter and unfolded it.**

**Dear Harry,**

**Happy birthday!**

**Look, I'm really sorry about that telephone call.**

**I hope the Muggles didn't give you a hard time. I asked Dad, and he reckons I shouldn't have shouted.**

**It's amazing here in Egypt. Bill's taken us around all the tombs and you wouldn't believe the curses those old Egyptian wizards put on them. Mum wouldn't let Ginny come in the last one.**

**There were all these mutant skeletons in there, of Muggles who'd broken in and grown extra heads and stuff.**

"Cool." Lilly and Remus just rolled their eyes.

**I couldn't believe it when Dad won the Daily Prophet Draw. Seven hundred galleons! Most of it's gone on this trip, but they're going to buy me a new wand for next year.**

**Harry remembered only too well the occasion when Ron's old wand had snapped. It had happened when the car the two of them had been flying to Hogwarts had crashed into a tree on the school grounds.**

"What, HARRY JAMES POTTER" Lilly started but then realized something, "JAMES HERALD POTTER THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT." "What why is it my fault." "BECAUSE HE GETS IT FROM YOU, YOU BETTER SHAPE UP OR ELSE." James gulped he didn't like the or else part.

**We'll be back about a week before term starts and we'll be going up to London to get my wand and our new books. Any chance of meeting you there?**

**Don't let the Muggles get you down!**

**Try and come to London,**

**Ron**

**P.S. Percy's Head Boy. He got the letter last week.**

**Harry glanced back at the photograph. Percy, who was in his seventh and final year at Hogwarts, was looking particularly smug.**

"Git."

**He had pinned his Head Boy badge to the fez perched jauntily on top of his neat hair, his horn-rimmed glasses flashing in the Egyptian sun.**

**Harry now turned to his present and unwrapped it. Inside was what looked like a miniature glass spinning top. There was another note from Ron beneath it. **

**Harry — this is a Pocket Sneakoscope. If there's someone untrustworthy around, it's supposed to light up and spin. Bill says it's rubbish sold for wizard tourists and isn't reliable, because it kept lighting up at dinner last night. But he didn't realize Fred and George had put beetles in his soup.**

**Bye — Ron**

James and Sirius laughed, while Lilly whispered to Remus, "Poor McGonagall she will be pulling her hair out, by the sounds of it she has another James Potter and Sirius Black on her hands." Remus nodded, "Who knows they could be worse."

**Harry put the Pocket Sneakoscope on his bedside table, where it stood quite still, balanced on its point, reflecting the luminous hands of his clock. He looked at it happily for a few seconds, then picked up the parcel Hedwig had brought.**

**Inside this, too, there was a wrapped present, a card, and a letter, this time from Hermione.**

**Dear Harry,**

**Ron wrote to me and told me about his phone call to your Uncle Vernon. I do hope you're all right.**

**I'm on holiday in France at the moment and I didn't know how I was going to send this to you — what if they'd opened it at customs? — but then Hedwig turned up! I think she wanted to make sure you got something for your birthday for a change.**

**I bought your present by owl-order; there was an advertisement in the Daily Prophet (I've been getting it delivered; it's so good to keep up with what's going on in the wizarding world). Did you see that picture of Ron and his family a week ago? I bet he's learning loads. I'm really jealous — the ancient Egyptian wizards were fascinating.**

**There's some interesting local history of witchcraft here, too. I've rewritten my whole History of Magic essay to include some of the things I've found out, I hope it's not too long — it's two rolls of parchment more than Professor Binns asked for.**

**Ron says he's going to be in London in the last week of the holidays. Can you make it? Will your aunt and uncle let you come? I really hope you can. If not, I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express on September first!**

**Love from Hermione**

**P.S. Ron says Percy's Head Boy. I'll bet Percy's really pleased. Ron doesn't seem too happy about it.**

**Harry laughed as he put Hermione's letter aside and picked up her present. It was very heavy. Knowing Hermione, he was sure it would be a large book full of very difficult spells**

— **but it wasn't. His heart gave a huge bound as he ripped back the paper and saw a sleek black leather case, with silver words stamped across it, reading Broomstick Servicing Kit.**

"Awesome," James and Sirius shouted.

"**Wow, Hermione!" Harry whispered, unzipping the case to look inside.**

**There was a large jar of Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish, a pair of gleaming silver Tail-Twig Clippers, a tiny brass compass to clip on your broom for long journeys, and a Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broomcare.**

**Apart from his friends, the thing that Harry missed most about Hogwarts was Quidditch, the most popular sport in the magical world — highly dangerous, very exciting, and played on broomsticks. Harry happened to be a very good Quidditch player; he had been the youngest person in a century to be picked for one of the Hogwarts House teams. One of Harry's most prized possessions was his Nimbus Two Thousand racing broom.**

**Harry put the leather case aside and picked up his last parcel. He recognized the untidy scrawl on the brown paper at once: this was from Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper. He tore off the top layer of paper and glimpsed something green and leathery, but before he could unwrap it properly, the parcel gave a strange quiver, and whatever was inside it snapped loudly — as though it had jaws.**

**Harry froze. He knew that Hagrid would never send him anything dangerous on purpose, but then, Hagrid didn't have a normal person's view of what was dangerous. Hagrid had been known to befriend giant spiders, buy vicious, three-headed dogs from men in pubs, and sneak illegal dragon eggs into his cabin.**

**Harry poked the parcel nervously. It snapped loudly again. Harry reached for the lamp on his bedside table, gripped it firmly in one hand, and raised it over his head, ready to strike. Then he seized the rest of the wrapping paper in his other hand and pulled.**

**And out fell — a book.**

Everyone looked confused.

**Harry just had time to register its handsome green cover, emblazoned with the golden title The Monster Book of Monsters, before it flipped onto its edge and scuttled sideways along the bed like some weird crab.**

"**Uh-oh," Harry muttered.**

**The book toppled off the bed with a loud clunk and shuffled rapidly across the room. Harry followed it stealthily. The book was hiding in the dark space under his desk. Praying that the Dursleys were still fast asleep, Harry got down on his hands and knees and reached toward it.**

"**Ouch!"**

**The book snapped shut on his hand and then flapped past him, still scuttling on its covers. Harry scrambled around, threw himself forward, and managed to flatten it. Uncle Vernon gave a loud, sleepy grunt in the room next door.**

**Hedwig and Errol watched interestedly as Harry clamped the struggling book tightly in his arms, hurried to his chest of drawers, and pulled out a belt, which he buckled tightly around it. The Monster Book shuddered angrily, but could no longer flap and snap, so Harry threw it down on the bed and reached for Hagrid's card.**

**Dear Harry,**

**Happy Birthday!**

**Think you might find this useful for next year.**

**Won't say no more here. Tell you when I see you.**

**Hope the Muggles are treating you right.**

**All the best,**

**Hagrid**

**It struck Harry as ominous that Hagrid thought a biting book would come in useful, but he put Hagrid's card up next to Ron's and Hermione's, grinning more broadly than ever. Now there was only the letter from Hogwarts left.**

**Noticing that it was rather thicker than usual, Harry slit open the envelope, pulled out the first page of parchment within, and read:**

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock.**

**Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade on certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign.**

"Yeah right."

**A list of books for next year is enclosed.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Professor M. McGonagall**

**Deputy Headmistress**

**Harry pulled out the Hogsmeade permission form and looked at it, no longer grinning. It would be wonderful to visit Hogsmeade on weekends; he knew it was an entirely wizarding village, and he had never set foot there. But how on earth was he going to persuade Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia to sign the form?**

**He looked over at the alarm clock. It was now two o'clock in the morning.**

**Deciding that he'd worry about the Hogsmeade form when he woke up, Harry got back into bed and reached up to cross off another day on the chart he'd made for himself, counting down the days left until his return to Hogwarts. Then he took off his glasses and lay down; eyes open, facing his three birthday cards.**

**Extremely unusual though he was, at that moment Harry Potter felt just like everyone else — glad, for the first time in his life, that it was his birthday.**

Remus handed the book to Sirius.


	5. Aunt Marge

**"Aunt Marge's Big Mistake," **James read.

**Harry went down to breakfast the next morning to find the three Dursleys already sitting around the kitchen table. They were watching a brand-new television, a welcome-home-for-the-summer present for Dudley, who had been complaining loudly about the long walk between the fridge and the television in the living room. Dudley had spent most of the summer in the kitchen, his piggy little eyes fixed on the screen and his five chins wobbling as he ate continually.**

Every one looked sick at this.

**Harry sat down between Dudley and Uncle Vernon, a large, beefy man with very little neck and a lot of mustache. Far from wishing Harry a happy birthday, none of the Dursleys made any sign that they had noticed Harry enter the room, but Harry was far too used to this to care. He helped himself to a piece of toast and then looked up at the reporter on the television, who was halfway through a report on an escaped convict.**

"… **the public is warned that Black is armed and extremely dangerous. A special hot line has been set up, and any sighting of Black should be reported immediately."**

"**No need to tell us he's no good," snorted Uncle Vernon, staring over the top of his newspaper at the prisoner. "Look at the state of him, the filthy layabout! Look at his hair!"**

"Can't be me then" Sirius said as he started playing with his hair.

**He shot a nasty look sideways at Harry, whose untidy hair had always been a source of great annoyance to Uncle Vernon. Compared to the man on the television, however, whose gaunt face was surrounded by a matted, elbow-length tangle, Harry felt very well groomed indeed.**

**The reporter had reappeared.**

"**The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries will announce today —"**

"**Hang on!" barked Uncle Vernon, staring furiously at the reporter. "You didn't tell us where that maniac's escaped from! What use is that? Lunatic could be coming up the street right now!"**

**Aunt Petunia, who was bony and horse-faced, whipped around and peered intently out of the kitchen window. Harry knew Aunt Petunia would simply love to be the one to call the hot line number. She was the nosiest woman in the world and spent most of her life spying on the boring, law-abiding neighbors.**

"**When will they learn," said Uncle Vernon, pounding the table with his large purple fist, "that hanging's the only way to deal with these people?"**

"**Very true," said Aunt Petunia, who was still squinting into next door's runner-beans.**

**Uncle Vernon drained his teacup, glanced at his watch, and added, "I'd better be off in a minute, Petunia. Marge's train gets in at ten."**

**Harry, whose thoughts had been upstairs with the Broomstick Servicing Kit, was brought back to earth with an unpleasant bump.**

"**Aunt Marge?" he blurted out. "Sh-she's not coming here, is she?"**

"I don't like the sound of this" stated Lilly.

**Aunt Marge was Uncle Vernon's sister. Even though she was not a blood relative of Harry's (whose mother had been Aunt Petunia's sister), he had been forced to call her 'Aunt' all his life. Aunt Marge lived in the country, in a house with a large garden, where she bred bulldogs. **

**She didn't often stay at Privet Drive, because she couldn't bear to leave her precious dogs, but each of her visits stood out horribly vividly in Harry's mind.**

**At Dudley's fifth birthday party, Aunt Marge had whacked Harry around the shins with her walking stick to stop him from beating Dudley at musical statues. A few years later, she had turned up at Christmas with a computerized robot for Dudley and a box of dog biscuits for Harry.**

"MY SON IS NOT A DOG" Lilly yelled, but quickly apologized to Remus for hurting his ears.

**On her last visit, the year before Harry started at Hogwarts, Harry had accidentally trodden on the tail of her favorite dog. Ripper had chased Harry out into the garden and up a tree, and Aunt Marge had refused to call him off until past midnight. **

Everyone glared or growled. "I think Ripper should meet Padfoot" Sirius said. Lilly looked confused, but quickly shrugged it off.

**The memory of this incident still brought tears of laughter to Dudley's eyes.**

"**Marge'll be here for a week," Uncle Vernon snarled, "and while we're on the subject," he pointed a fat finger threateningly at Harry, "we need to get a few things straight before I go and collect her."**

**Dudley smirked and withdrew his gaze from the television. Watching Harry being bullied by Uncle Vernon was Dudley's favorite form of entertainment.**

"**Firstly," growled Uncle Vernon, "you'll keep a civil tongue in your head when you're talking to Marge."**

"**All right," said Harry bitterly, "if she does when she's talking to me."**

"**Secondly," said Uncle Vernon, acting as though he had not heard Harry's reply, "as Marge doesn't know anything about your abnormality, I don't want any — any funny stuff while she's here. You behave yourself, got me?"**

"**I will if she does," said Harry through gritted teeth.**

"**And thirdly," said Uncle Vernon, his mean little eyes now slits in his great purple face, "we've told Marge you attend St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys."**

Everyone started swearing.

"**What?" Harry yelled.**

"**And you'll be sticking to that story, boy, or there'll be trouble," spat Uncle Vernon.**

**Harry sat there, white-faced and furious, staring at Uncle Vernon, hardly able to believe it. Aunt Marge coming for a weeklong visit — it was the worst birthday present the Dursleys had ever given him, including that pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.**

"**Well, Petunia," said Uncle Vernon, getting heavily to his feet, "I'll be off to the station, then. Want to come along for the ride, Dudders?"**

"**No," said Dudley, whose attention had returned to the television now that Uncle Vernon had finished threatening Harry.**

"**Duddy's got to make himself smart for his auntie," said Aunt Petunia, smoothing Dudley's thick blond hair. "Mummy's bought him a lovely new bow-tie."**

**Uncle Vernon clapped Dudley on his porky shoulder.**

"**See you in a bit, then," he said, and he left the kitchen.**

**Harry didn't return to the kitchen. He went back upstairs to his bedroom. If he was going to act like a real Muggle, heed better start now. Slowly and sadly he gathered up all his presents and his birthday cards and hid them under the loose floorboard with his homework. Then he went to Hedwig's cage. Errol seemed to have recovered; he and Hedwig were both asleep, heads under their wings. Harry sighed, then poked them both awake.**

"**Hedwig," he said gloomily, "you're going to have to clear off for a week. Go with Errol. Ron'll look after you. I'll write him a note, explaining. And don't look at me like that" — Hedwig's large amber eyes were reproachful — "it's not my fault. It's the only way without getting hit, you remember what happened last summer."**

"I wonder what happened." "I don't know but I don't like the sound of it."

**Ten minutes later, Errol and Hedwig (who had a note to Ron bound to her leg) soared out of the window and out of sight. Harry, now feeling thoroughly miserable, put the empty cage away inside the wardrobe.**

**But Harry didn't have long to brood. In next to no time, Aunt Petunia was shrieking up the stairs for Harry to come down and get ready to welcome their guest.**

"**Do something about your hair!" Aunt Petunia snapped as he reached the hall.**

**Harry couldn't see the point of trying to make his hair lie flat. Aunt Marge loved criticizing him, so the untidier he looked, the happier she would be.**

**All too soon, there was a crunch of gravel outside as Uncle Vernon's car pulled back into the driveway, then the clunk of the car doors and footsteps on the garden path.**

"**Get the door!" Aunt Petunia hissed at Harry.**

**A feeling of great gloom in his stomach, Harry pulled the door open.**

**On the threshold stood Aunt Marge. She was very like Uncle Vernon: large, beefy, and purple-faced, she even had a mustache, though not as bushy as his. **

"Great."

**In one hand she held an enormous suitcase, and tucked under the other was an old and evil-tempered bulldog.**

"**Where's my Dudders?" roared Aunt Marge. "Where's my neffy poo?"**

**Dudley came waddling down the hall, his blond hair plastered flat to his fat head, a bow tie just visible under his many chins. Aunt Marge thrust the suitcase into Harry's stomach, knocking the wind out of him, seized Dudley in a tight one-armed hug, and planted a large kiss on his cheek.**

**Harry knew perfectly well that Dudley only put up with Aunt Marge's hugs because he was well paid for it, and sure enough, when they broke apart, Dudley had a crisp twenty-pound note clutched in his fat fist.**

"**Petunia!" shouted Aunt Marge, striding past Harry as though he was a hat-stand. Aunt Marge and Aunt Petunia kissed, or rather, Aunt Marge bumped her large jaw against Aunt Petunias bony cheekbone.**

**Uncle Vernon now came in, smiling jovially as he shut the door.**

"**Tea, Marge?" he said. "And what will Ripper take?"**

"**Ripper can have some tea out of my saucer," said Aunt Marge **

Lily said was smirked she knew her sister hated animals.

**as they all proceeded into the kitchen, leaving Harry alone in the hall with the suitcase. But Harry wasn't complaining; any excuse not to be with Aunt Marge was fine by him, so he began to heave the case upstairs into the spare bedroom, taking as long as he could.**

**By the time he got back to the kitchen, Aunt Marge had been supplied with tea and fruitcake, and Ripper was lapping noisily in the corner. Harry saw Aunt Petunia wince slightly as specks of tea and drool flecked her clean floor. Aunt Petunia hated animals.**

"**Who's looking after the other dogs, Marge?" Uncle Vernon asked.**

"**Oh, I've got Colonel Fubster managing them," boomed Aunt Marge. "He's retired now, good for him to have something to do. But I couldn't leave poor old Ripper. He pines if he's away from me."**

**Ripper began to growl again as Harry sat down. This directed Aunt Marge's attention to Harry for the first time.**

"Hep definitely needs to meet Padfoot" Sirius. "Yep" nodded James. Remus just glared at his friends who raised their eyebrows but then motioned at Lilly. So they stopped.

"**So!" she barked. "Still here, are you?"**

"**Yes," said Harry.**

"**Don't you say 'yes' in that ungrateful tone," Aunt Marge growled. "It's damn good of Vernon and Petunia to keep you. Wouldn't have done it myself. You'd have gone straight to an orphanage if you'd been dumped on my doorstep."**

"Would have been much better anyways" Lilly stated.

**Harry was bursting to say that he'd rather live in an orphanage than with the Dursleys, but the thought of getting hit stopped him. He forced his face into a painful smile.**

"**Don't you smirk at me!" boomed Aunt Marge. "I can see you haven't improved since I last saw you. I hoped school would knock some manners into you." She took a large gulp of tea, wiped her mustache, and said, "Where is it that you send him, again, Vernon?"**

"**St. Brutus's," said Uncle Vernon promptly. "It's a first-rate institution for hopeless cases."**

"**I see," said Aunt Marge. "Do they use the cane at St. Brutus's, boy?" she barked across the table.**

"**Er —"**

**Uncle Vernon nodded curtly behind Aunt Marge's back.**

"**Yes," said Harry. Then, feeling he might as well do the thing properly, he added, "All the time."**

"**Excellent," said Aunt Marge. "I won't have this namby-pamby, wishy-washy nonsense about not hitting people who deserve it. A good thrashing is what's needed in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. Have you been beaten often?"**

"**Oh, yeah," said Harry, "loads of times."**

**Aunt Marge narrowed her eyes.**

"**I still don't like your tone, boy," she said. "If you can speak of your beatings in that casual way, they clearly aren't hitting you hard enough. Petunia, I'd write if I were you. Make it clear that you approve the use of extreme force in this boy's case."**

"I think Remus you need to come on a full moon and scare them" stated Lilly who surprised everyone that she would think of something like that.

**Perhaps Uncle Vernon changed the subject abruptly.**

"**Heard the news this morning, Marge? What about that escaped prisoner, eh?"**

**As Aunt Marge started to make herself at home, Harry caught himself thinking almost longingly of life at number four without her. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia usually encouraged Harry to stay out of their way, which Harry was only too happy to do. Aunt Marge, on the other hand, wanted Harry under her eye at all times, so that she could boom out suggestions for his improvement. She delighted in comparing Harry with Dudley, and took huge pleasure in buying Dudley expensive presents while glaring at Harry, as though daring him to ask why he hadn't got a present too. She also kept throwing out dark hints about what made Harry such an unsatisfactory person.**

"**You mustn't blame yourself for the way the boy's turned out, Vernon," she said over lunch on the third day. "If there's something rotten on the inside, there's nothing anyone can do about it."**

Remus conjured chocolate for everyone and then stress bulls.

**Harry tried to concentrate on his food, but his hands shook and his face was starting to burn with anger. Remember you don't want other bruise on your eye, he told himself. Think about anything but what she says. Don't say anything. Don't rise —**

**Aunt Marge reached for her glass of wine.**

"**It's one of the basic rules of breeding," she said. "You see it all the time with dogs. If there's something wrong with the bitch, there'll be something wrong with the pup —"**

"I'LL KILL HER MYSELF" Sirius started yelling. "I WILL COME BACK TO THE DEAD AND KILL THE FAT BITCH WITH MY BARE HANDS" James yelled. Remus yelled, "NEVER MIND SCARING HER I'LL RIP HER TO SHRUDS NO ONE CALLS MY LILLY THAT." At this everyone turned to Remus shocked. As soon as the words were out of his mouth he looked like he wanted to hex himself. He put his hands in his hands. Sirius and James were too shocked to do anything, Lilly came over to him and carefully pulled him into a hug and motioned for James to continue reading. James nodded his end, but Sirius looked like he wanted to say something, Lilly just glared at him.

**At that moment, the wineglass Aunt Marge was holding exploded in her hand. Shards of glass flew in every direction and Aunt Marge sputtered and blinked, her great ruddy face dripping.**

"**Marge!" squealed Aunt Petunia. "Marge, are you all right?"**

"**Not to worry," grunted Aunt Marge, mopping her face with her napkin. "Must have squeezed it too hard. Did the same thing at Colonel Fubster's the other day. No need to fuss, Petunia, I have a very firm grip…"**

**But Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were both looking at Harry suspiciously, so he decided he'd better skip dessert and escape from the table as soon as he could.**

**Outside in the hall, he leaned against the wall, breathing deeply. It had been a long time since he'd lost control and made something explode. He couldn't afford to let it happen again. If he carried on like that, he'd be in trouble with the Ministry of Magic, that is if Vernon didn't beat him to death.**

James and Sirius resumed taking notes. Remus was too shocked at himself. Lilly was still setting next to Remus.

**Harry was still an underage wizard, and he was forbidden by wizard law to do magic outside school. His record wasn't exactly clean either. Only last summer he'd gotten an official warning that had stated quite clearly that if the Ministry got wind of any more magic in Privet Drive, Harry would face expulsion from Hogwarts.**

"What."

**He heard the Dursleys leaving the table and hurried upstairs out of the way.**

**Harry got through the next three days by forcing himself to think about his Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broomcare whenever Aunt Marge started on him. This worked quite well, though it seemed to give him a glazed look, because Aunt Marge started voicing the opinion that he was mentally subnormal.**

**At last, at long last, the final evening of Marge's stay arrived.**

**Aunt Petunia cooked a fancy dinner and Uncle Vernon uncorked several bottles of wine. They got all the way through the soup and the salmon without a single mention of Harry's faults; during the lemon meringue pie, Uncle Vernon bored them a with a long talk about Grunnings, his drill-making company; then Aunt Petunia made coffee and Uncle Vernon brought out a bottle of brandy.**

"**Can I tempt you, Marge?"**

**Aunt Marge had already had quite a lot of wine. Her huge face was very red.**

"**Just a small one, then," she chuckled. "A bit more than that… and a bit more… that's the ticket."**

**Dudley was eating his fourth slice of pie. Aunt Petunia was sipping coffee with her little finger sticking out. Harry really wanted to disappear into his bedroom, but he met Uncle Vernon's angry little eyes and knew he would have to sit it out.**

"**Aah," said Aunt Marge, smacking her lips and putting the empty brandy glass back down. "Excellent nosh, Petunia. It's normally just a fry-up for me of an evening, with twelve dogs to look after…" She burped richly and patted her great tweed stomach. "Pardon me. But I do like to see a healthy-sized boy," she went on, winking at Dudley. "You'll be a proper-sized man, Dudders, like your father. Yes, I'll have a spot more brandy, Vernon…"**

"**Now, this one here —"**

**She jerked her head at Harry, who felt his stomach clench. The Handbook, he thought quickly.**

"Here we go again, I think you should let me read James that way you won't have to stop to take notes and something tells me you will be writing a lot" Remus said. James just handed him the book.

"**This one's got a mean, runty look about him. You get that with dogs. I had Colonel Fubster drown one last year. Ratty little thing it was. Weak. Underbred."**

"That's horrible" stated Lilly.

**Harry was trying to remember page twelve of his book: A Charm to Cure Reluctant Reversers.**

"**It all comes down to blood, as I was saying the other day. Bad blood will out. Now, I'm saying nothing against your family, Petunia" — she patted Aunt Petunia's bony hand with her shovel-like one "but your sister was a bad egg. They turn up in the best families. Then she ran off with a wastrel and here's the result right in front of us."**

**Harry was staring at his plate, a funny ringing in his ears. Grasp your broom firmly by the tail, he thought. But he couldn't remember what came next. Aunt Marge's voice seemed to be boring into him like one of Uncle Vernon's drills.**

"**This Potter," said Aunt Marge loudly, seizing the brandy bottle and splashing more into her glass and over the tablecloth, "you never told me what he did?"**

**Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were looking extremely tense. Dudley had even looked up from his pie to gape at his parents.**

"**He — didn't work," said Uncle Vernon, with half a glance at Harry. "Unemployed."**

"**As I expected!" said Aunt Marge, taking a huge swig of brandy and wiping her chin on her sleeve. "A no-account, good-for-nothing, lazy scrounger who —"**

"**He was not," said Harry suddenly. The table went very quiet. Harry was shaking all over. He had never felt so angry in his life.**

"**MORE BRANDY!" yelled Uncle Vernon, who had gone very white. He emptied the bottle into Aunt Marge's glass. "You, boy," he snarled at Harry. "Go to bed, go on —"**

"**No, Vernon," hiccupped Aunt Marge, holding up a hand, her tiny bloodshot eyes fixed on Harry's. "Go on, boy, go on. Proud of your parents, are you? They go and get themselves killed in a car crash (drunk, I expect) —"**

"**They didn't die in a car crash!" said Harry, who found himself on his feet.**

"**They died in a car crash, you nasty little liar, and left you to be a burden on their decent, hardworking relatives!" screamed Aunt Marge, swelling with fury. "You are an insolent, ungrateful little —"**

**But Aunt Marge suddenly stopped speaking. For a moment, it looked as though words had failed her. She seemed to be swelling with inexpressible anger — but the swelling didn't stop. **

Everyone was now on the edge of their seats.

**But Aunt Marge suddenly stopped speaking. For a moment, it looked as though words had failed her. She seemed to be swelling with inexpressible anger — but the swelling didn't stop**

**Her great red face started to expand, her tiny eyes bulged, and her mouth stretched too tightly for speech — next second, several buttons had just burst from her tweed jacket and pinged off the walls — she was inflating like a monstrous balloon, her stomach bursting free of her tweed waistband, each of her fingers blowing up like a salami…**

"**MARGE!" yelled Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia together as Aunt Marge's whole body began to rise off her chair toward the ceiling. She was entirely round, now, like a vast life buoy with piggy eyes, and her hands and feet stuck out weirdly as she drifted up into the air, making apoplectic popping noises. Ripper came skidding into the room, barking madly.**

"**NOOOOOOO!"**

**Uncle Vernon seized one of Marge's feet and tried to pull her down again, but was almost lifted from the floor himself. A second later, Ripper leapt forward and sank his teeth into Uncle Vernon's leg.**

"Yes never mind I like that dog" Sirius cheered.

**Harry tore from the dining room before anyone could stop him, heading for the cupboard under the stairs. The cupboard door burst magically open as he reached it. In seconds, he had heaved his trunk to the front door. He sprinted upstairs and threw himself under the bed, wrenching up the loose floorboard, and grabbed the pillowcase full of his books and birthday presents. He wriggled out, seized Hedwig's empty cage, and dashed back downstairs to his trunk, just as Uncle Vernon burst out of the dining room, his trouser leg in bloody tatters.**

"**COME BACK IN HERE!" he bellowed. "COME BACK AND PUT HER RIGHT!"**

**But a reckless rage had come over Harry. He kicked his trunk open, pulled out his wand, and pointed it at Uncle Vernon.**

"**She deserved it," Harry said, breathing very fast. "She deserved what she got. You keep away from me." Still mad, Vernon went to hit Harry put was thrown across the room, the sound of glass breaking had Aunt Petunia and Dudley come running into the room. Vernon was still on the floor. To filled with rage, Harry looked at Vernon, Harry's eyes were now filled with red, anger, and hate that he didn't feel like this was his home anymore. A white light Vernon and when it was clear their was a pig with Vernon's clothes on. The curtains started on fire. Petunia looked sacred, but before she could do anything she was turned into a horse. As for Dudley he had went his pants and was turned into a pig like his father. **

**He fumbled behind him for the latch on the door.**

"**I'm going," Harry said. "I've had enough." As he stepped out the house became filled with garbage, now at least they were the animals that they truly were.**

**And in the next moment, he was out in the dark, quiet street, heaving his heavy trunk behind him, Hedwig's cage under his arm.**

Everyone laughed including Lilly.

Lilly took the book from Remus, but James asked if he could read the next chapter seeing that he didn't get to finish this one, which she agreed.

But before James started to read, Lilly asked if she could have a talk to Remus alone. He nodded and off they went.


	6. Knight bus

After Lilly talked to Remus, the two returned, James noticed that Lilly looked sad, while Remus looked on the verge of tears. He was definitely going to have to talk with his friend after this next chapter, so he started to read the next chapter.

**"The Knight Bus**"

Finally Harry get away from those muggles and be around the magical world" stated Sirius. Lilly just nodded and Remus just gave a small smile. James noticed this and motioned their reactions to Sirius who merely shrugged.

**Harry was several streets away before he collapsed onto a low wall in Magnolia Crescent, panting from the effort of dragging his trunk. He sat quite still, anger still surging through him, listening to the frantic thumping of his heart.**

**But after ten minutes alone in the dark street, a new emotion overtook him: panic. Whichever way he looked at it, he had never been in a worse fix. **

**He was stranded, quite alone, in the dark Muggle world, with absolutely nowhere to go. And the worst of it was, he had just done serious magic,** **which meant that he was almost certainly expelled from Hogwarts. He had broken the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry so badly, he was surprised Ministry of Magic representatives weren't swooping down on him where he sat.**

**Harry shivered and looked up and down Magnolia Crescent.**

**What, was going to happen to him? Would he be arrested, or would he simply be outlawed from the wizarding world? He thought of Ron and Hermione, and his heart sank even lower. Harry was sure that, criminal or not, Ron and Hermione would want to help him now,** **but they were both abroad, and with Hedwig gone, he had no means of contacting them.**

**He didn't have any Muggle money, either. There was a little wizard gold in the money bag at the bottom of his trunk, but the rest of the fortune his parents had left him was stored in a vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank in London. He'd never be able to drag his trunk all the way to London. Unless…**

**He looked down at his wand, which he was still clutching in his hand. If he was already expelled (his heart was now thumping painfully fast), a bit more magic couldn't hurt. He had the Invisibility Cloak he had inherited from his father — what if he bewitched the trunk to make it feather-light, tied it to his broomstick, covered himself in the cloak, and flew to London? **

**Then he could get the rest of his money out of his vault and… begin his life as an outcast. It was a horrible prospect, but he couldn't sit on this wall forever, or he'd find himself trying to explain to Muggle police why he was out in the dead of night with a trunk full of spell books and a broomstick.**

**His train of thoughts was broken when he felt something on his leg. He looked down and nearly jumped there was a dog's head looking up at him.**

Sirius and James smirked, but Lilly and Remus were still too out of it from their chat.

"**What, where do you come from" Harry asked the dog. It was as big as a Newfoundland, but looked like a black Labrador instead. The dog started wagging it's tail. After several minutes of staring at the dog, Harry get up, "Well I wish I could take you with be but seeing that I am on the run it will be hard not to be noticed with you being around so-." The dog tiled it's head and started to whine. Harry sighed, "Look I can't," but before he could finish the dog had pointed to his wand that was his left hand and then in the air. Harry looked confused for a second, "Are you trying to tell me something."**

**The dog kept at it until Harry did what it wanted him to. **

**There was a deafening BANG, and Harry threw up his hands to shield his eyes against a sudden blinding light…**

**With a yell, he fell over and rolled back onto the pavement, just in time. A second later, a gigantic pair of wheels and headlights screeched to a halt exactly where Harry had just been lying. **

**They belonged, as Harry saw when he raised his head, to a triple-decker, violently purple bus, which had appeared out of thin air. Gold lettering over the windshield spelled The Knight Bus.**

**For a split second, Harry wondered if he had been knocked silly by his fall. Then a conductor in a purple uniform leapt out of the bus and began to speak loudly to the night.**

"**Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this eve—"**

**The conductor stopped abruptly. He had just caught sight of Harry, who was still sitting on the ground. Harry snatched up his wand again and scrambled to his feet. Close up, he saw that Stan Shunpike was only a few years older than he was, eighteen or nineteen at most, with large, protruding ears and quite a few pimples.**

"**What were you doin' down there?" said Stan, dropping his professional manner.**

"**Fell over," said Harry.**

"'**Choo fall over for?" sniggered Stan.**

"**I didn't do it on purpose," said Harry, annoyed. One of the knees in his jeans was torn, and the hand he had thrown out to break his fall was bleeding. He suddenly remembered why he had fallen over and turned to look at the dog, but it was gone.**

"'**Choo lookin' at?" said Stan.**

"**There was a big black dog," said Harry, pointing uncertainly into where it once stood.**

James looked at Sirius, "Why did you leave?" Sirius just shrugged his shoulders. Lilly kept looking over at Remus, but he refused to look at her, he couldn't take anymore of it and decided he could be in the same room anymore, "I am not feeling the best I think I am going to go lie down on my bed." The others looked at him with concern. Sirius started to whine, but James gave him a look at cut him off, "Oh okay I hope you feel better mate." Remus just waved his hand. Lilly looked hurt. "What is going on" Sirius whispered to James. "I have no idea but after this I am having a serious discussion with those two."

**He looked around at Stan, whose mouth was slightly open. With a feeling of unease, Harry saw Stan's eyes move to the scar on Harry's forehead.**

"**Woss that on your 'ead?" said Stan abruptly.**

"**Nothing," said Harry quickly, flattening his hair over his scar. If the Ministry of Magic was looking for him, he didn't want to make it too easy for them.**

"**Woss your name?" Stan persisted.**

"**Neville Longbottom," said Harry, **

"Must be Frank's son" Sirius said. James nodded, but both jumped when Lilly spoke, "We should have them read with us." "Okay how about this, after I finish reading you go find invite them to join us." Lilly nodded her head.

**saying the first name that came into his head. "So — so this bus," he went on quickly, hoping to distract Stan, "did you say it goes anywhere?"**

"**Yep," said Stan proudly, "anywhere you like, 'long it's on land. Can't do nuffink underwater.**

"**Ere," he said, looking suspicious again, "you did flag us down, dincha? Stuck out your wand 'and, dincha?"**

"**Yes," said Harry quickly. "Listen, how much would it be to get to London?"**

"**Eleven Sickles," said Stan, "but for firteen you get 'ot chocolate, and for fifteen you get an 'ot-water bottle an' a toofbrush in the color of your choice."**

**Harry rummaged once more in his trunk, extracted his money bag, and shoved some gold into Stan's hand. He and Stan then lifted his trunk, with Hedwig's cage balanced on top, up the steps of the bus.**

**There were no seats; instead, half a dozen brass bedsteads stood beside the curtained windows. Candles were burning in brackets beside each bed, illuminating the wood-paneled walls. A tiny wizard in a nightcap at the rear of the bus muttered, "Not now, thanks, I'm pickling some slugs" and rolled over in his sleep.**

"**You 'ave this one," Stan whispered, shoving Harry's trunk under the bed right behind the driver, who was sitting in an armchair in front of the steering wheel. "This is our driver, Ernie Prang. This is Neville Longbottom, Ern."**

**Ernie Prang, an elderly wizard wearing very thick glasses, nodded to Harry, who nervously flattened his bangs again and sat down on his bed.**

"**Take'er away, Ern," said Stan, sitting down in the armchair next to Ernie's.**

**There was another tremendous BANG, and the next moment Harry found himself flat on his bed, thrown backward by the speed of the Knight Bus. Pulling himself up, Harry stared out of the dark window and saw that they were now bowling along a completely different street. Stan was watching Harry's stunned face with great enjoyment.**

"**This is where we was before you flagged us down," he said. "Where are we, Ern? Somewhere in Wales?"**

"**Ar," said Ernie.**

"**How come the Muggles don't hear the bus?" said Harry.**

"**Them!" said Stan contemptuously. "Don' listen properly, do they? Don' look properly either. Never notice nuffink, they don'."**

"**Best go wake up Madam Marsh, Stan," said Ern. "We'll be in Abergavenny in a minute."**

**Stan passed Harry's bed and disappeared up a narrow wooden staircase. Harry was still looking out of the window, feeling increasingly nervous. Ernie didn't seem to have mastered the use of a steering wheel. The Knight Bus kept mounting the pavement, but it didn't hit anything; lines of lampposts, mailboxes, and trash cans jumped out of its way as it approached and back into position once it had passed.**

**Stan came back downstairs, followed by a faintly green witch wrapped in a traveling cloak.**

"'**Ere you go, Madam Marsh," said Stan happily as Ern stamped on the brake and the beds slid a foot or so toward the front of the bus. Madam Marsh clamped a handkerchief to her mouth and tottered down the steps. Stan threw her bag out after her and rammed the doors shut; there was another loud BANG, and they were thundering down a narrow country lane, trees leaping out of the way.**

**Harry wouldn't have been able to sleep even if he had been traveling on a bus that didn't keep banging loudly and jumping a hundred miles at a time. His stomach churned as he fell back to wondering what was going to happen to him, and whether the Dursleys had managed to get Aunt Marge off the ceiling yet.**

**Stan had unfurled a copy of the Daily Prophet and was now reading with his tongue between his teeth. A large photograph of a sunken-faced man with long, matted hair blinked slowly at Harry from the front page. He looked strangely familiar.**

"**That man!" Harry said, forgetting his troubles for a moment. "He was on the Muggle news!"**

**Stanley turned to the front page and chuckled.**

"**Sirius Black," he said, nodding. "'Course 'e was on the Muggle news, Neville. Where you been?"**

**He gave a superior sort of chuckle at the blank look on Harry's face, removed the front page, and handed it to Harry.**

"**You oughta read the papers more, Neville."**

**Harry held the paper up to the candlelight and read:**

**BLACK STILL AT LARGE**

**Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today. "We are doing all we can to recapture Black," said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, "and we beg the magical community to remain calm."**

**Fudge has been criticized by some members of the International Federation of Warlocks for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis.**

"**Well, really, I had to, don't you know," said an irritable Fudge. "Black is mad. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle. I have the Prime Minister's assurance that he will not breathe a word of Black's true identity to anyone. And let's face it — who'd believe him if he did?"**

**While Muggles have been told that Black is carrying a gun (a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other), the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse.**

**Harry looked into the shadowed eyes of Sirius Black, the only part of the sunken face that seemed alive. Harry had never met a vampire, but he had seen pictures of them in his Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, and Black, with his waxy white skin, looked just like one.**

Know Sirius was depressed. James and Lilly tried to comfort him even try to joke about his hair, but nothing.

"**Scary-lookin' fing, inee?" said Stan, who had been watching Harry read.**

"**He murdered thirteen people?" said Harry, handing the page back to Stan, "with one curse?"**

"**Yep," said Stan, "in front of witnesses an' all. Broad daylight. Big trouble it caused, dinnit, Ern?"**

"**Ar," said Ern darkly.**

**Stan swiveled in his armchair, his hands on the back, the better to look at Harry.**

"**Black woz a big supporter of You-Know-'Oo," he said.**

"**What, Voldemort?" said Harry, without thinking.**

**Even Stan's pimples went white; Ern jerked the steering wheel so hard that a whole farmhouse had to jump aside to avoid the bus.**

"**You outta your tree?" yelped Stan. "'Choo say 'is name for?"**

"**Sorry," said Harry hastily. "Sorry, I — I forgot —"**

"**Forgot!" said Stan weakly. "Blimey, my 'eart's goin' that fast…"**

"**So — so Black was a supporter of You-Know-Who?" Harry prompted apologetically.**

Everyone yelled at this Sirius started to leave but James tied him down and silenced him threatening to hex him if he didn't finish reading this book for he thought everyone would be explained as the book progressed. Lilly looked impressed.

"**Yeah," said Stan, still rubbing his chest. "Yeah, that's right. Very close to You-Know-'Oo, they say… anyway, when little 'Arry Potter got the better of You-Know-'Oo" — Harry nervously flattened his bangs down again — "all You-Know-'Oo's supporters was tracked down, wasn't they, Ern? Most of 'em knew it was all over, wiv You-Know-'Oo gone, and they came quiet. But not Sirius Black. I 'eard he thought 'e'd be second-in-command once You-Know-'Oo 'ad taken over.**

"**Anyway, they cornered Black in the middle of a street full of Muggles an' Black took out 'is wand and 'e blasted 'alf the street apart, an' a wizard got it, an' so did a dozen Muggles what got in the way. **

Sirius looked like he wanted to say something after James had removed the spell on him, but James gave him a look that said, "Don't even think about it."

'**Orrible, eh? An' you know what Black did then?" Stan continued in a dramatic whisper.**

"**What?" said Harry.**

"**Laughed," said Stan. "Jus' stood there an' laughed. An' when reinforcements from the Ministry of Magic got there, 'e went wiv em quiet as anyfink, still laughing 'is 'ead off. 'Cos 'e's mad, inee, Ern? Inee mad?"**

James untied his friend and pulled him into a hug, which surprisingly Lilly gave him one as well.

"**If he weren't when he went to Azkaban, he will be now," said Ern in his slow voice. "I'd blow meself up before I set foot in that place. Serves him right, mind you… after what he did…"**

"**They 'ad a job coverin' it up, din' they, Ern?" Stan said. "'Ole street blown up an' all them Muggles dead. What was it they said 'ad 'appened, Ern?"**

"**Gas explosion," grunted Ernie.**

"**An' now 'e's out," said Stan, examining the newspaper picture of Black's gaunt face again. "Never been a breakout from Azkaban before, 'as there, Ern? **

**Beats me 'ow 'e did it. Frightenin', eh? Mind, I don't fancy 'is chances against them Azkaban guards, eh, Ern?"**

**Ernie suddenly shivered. "Talk about summat else, Stan, there's a good lad. Them Azkaban guards give me the collywobbles."**

**Stan put the paper away reluctantly, and Harry leaned against the window of the Knight Bus, feeling worse than ever. He couldn't help imagining what Stan might be telling his passengers in a few nights' time.**

"'**Ear about that 'Arry Potter? Blew up 'is aunt! We 'ad 'im 'ere on the Knight Bus, di'n't we, Ern? 'E was tryin' to run for it…"**

**He, Harry, had broken wizard law just like Sirius Black. **

**Was inflating Aunt Marge bad enough to land him in Azkaban? Or turning your relatives into animals? Or Almost completely destroying the house? Harry didn't know anything about the wizard prison, though everyone he'd ever heard speak of it did so in the same fearful tone. Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, had spent two months there only last year. Harry wouldn't soon forget the look of terror on Hagrid's face when he had been told where he was going, and Hagrid was one of the bravest people Harry knew.**

**The Knight Bus rolled through the darkness, scattering bushes and wastebaskets, telephone booths and trees, and Harry lay, restless and miserable, on his feather bed. After a while, Stan remembered that Harry had paid for hot chocolate, but poured it all over Harry's pillow when the bus moved abruptly from Anglesea to Aberdeen. One by one, wizards and witches in dressing gowns and slippers descended from the upper floors to leave the bus. They all looked very pleased to go.**

**Finally, Harry was the only passenger left.**

"**Right then, Neville," said Stan, clapping his hands, "whereabouts in London?"**

"**Diagon Alley," said Harry.**

"**Righto," said Stan. "'Old tight, then."**

**BANG.**

**They were thundering along Charing Cross Road. Harry sat up and watched buildings and benches squeezing themselves out of the Knight Bus's way. The sky was getting a little lighter. He would lie low for a couple of hours, go to Gringotts the moment it opened, then set off — where, he didn't know.**

**Ern slammed on the brakes and the Knight Bus skidded to a halt in front of a small and shabby-looking pub, the Leaky Cauldron, behind which lay the magical entrance to Diagon Alley.**

"**Thanks," Harry said to Ern.**

**He jumped down the steps and helped Stan lower his trunk and Hedwig's cage onto the pavement.**

"**Well," said Harry. "Bye then!"**

**But Stan wasn't paying attention. Still standing in the doorway to the bus he was goggling at the shadowy entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.**

"**There you are, Harry," said a voice.**

**Before Harry could turn, he felt a hand on his shoulder. At the same time, Stan shouted, "Blimey! Ern, come 'ere! Come 'ere!"**

**Harry looked up at the owner of the hand on his shoulder and felt a bucketful of ice cascade into his stomach — he had walked right into Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself.**

**Stan leapt onto the pavement beside them.**

"**What didja call Neville, Minister?" he said excitedly.**

**Fudge, a portly little man in a long, pinstriped cloak, looked cold and exhausted.**

"**Neville?" he repeated, frowning. "This is Harry Potter."**

"**I knew it!" Stan shouted gleefully. **

"Yeah right," Sirius scuffed.

"**Ern! Ern! Guess 'oo Neville is, Ern! 'E's 'Arry Potter! I can see 'is scar!"**

"**Yes," said Fudge testily, "well, I'm very glad the Knight Bus picked Harry up, but he and I need to step inside the Leaky Cauldron now…"**

**Fudge increased the pressure on Harry's shoulder, and Harry found himself being steered inside the pub. **

**A stooping figure bearing a lantern appeared through the door behind the bar. It was Tom, the wizened, toothless landlord.**

"**You've got him, Minister!" said Tom. "Will you be wanting anything? Beer? Brandy?"**

"**Perhaps a pot of tea," said Fudge, who still hadn't let go of Harry.**

**There was a loud scraping and puffing from behind them, and Stan and Ern appeared, carrying Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage and looking around excitedly.**

"'**Ow come you di'n't tell us 'oo you are, eh, Neville?" said Stan, beaming at Harry, while Ernie's owlish face peered interestedly over Stan's shoulder.**

"**And a private parlor, please, Tom," said Fudge pointedly.**

"**Bye," Harry said miserably to Stan and Ern as Tom beckoned Fudge toward the passage that led from the bar.**

"**Bye, Neville!" called Stan.**

"He still called him Neville," James and Sirius laughed, while Lilly rolled her eyes.

**Fudge marched Harry along the narrow passage after Tom's lantern, and then into a small parlor. Tom clicked his fingers, a fire burst into life in the grate, and he bowed himself out of the room.**

"**Sit down, Harry," said Fudge, indicating a chair by the fire.**

**Harry sat down, feeling goose bumps rising up his arms despite the glow of the fire. Fudge took off his pinstriped cloak and tossed it aside, then hitched up the trousers of his bottle-green suit and sat down opposite Harry.**

"**I am Cornelius Fudge, Harry. The Minister of Magic."**

**Harry already knew this, of course; he had seen Fudge once before, but as he had been wearing his father's Invisibility Cloak at the time, Fudge wasn't to know that.**

**Tom the innkeeper reappeared, wearing an apron over his nightshirt and bearing a tray of tea and crumpets. He placed the tray on a table between Fudge and Harry and left the parlor, closing the door behind him.**

"**Well, Harry," said Fudge, pouring out tea, "you've had us all in a right flap, I don't mind telling you. Running away from your aunt and uncle's house like that! I'd started to think… but you're safe, and that's what matters."**

**Fudge buttered himself a crumpet and pushed the plate toward Harry.**

"**Eat, Harry, you look dead on your feet. Now then… You will be pleased to hear that we have dealt with the unfortunate blowing-up of Miss Marjorie Dursley. Two members of the Accidental Magic Reversal Department were dispatched to Privet Drive a few hours ago. Miss Dursley has been punctured and her memory has been modified. She has no recollection of the incident at all. So that's that, and no harm done."**

**Fudge smiled at Harry over the rim of his teacup, rather like an uncle surveying a favorite nephew. Harry, who couldn't believe his ears, opened his mouth to speak, couldn't think of anything to say, and closed it again.**

"**Ah, you're worrying about the reaction of your aunt and uncle?" said Fudge. "Well, I won't deny that they are extremely angry, Harry, but they are prepared to take you back next summer as long as you stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas and Easter holidays."**

**Harry unstuck his throat.**

"**I always stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas and Easter holidays," he said, "and I don't ever want to go back to Privet Drive."**

"**Now, now, I'm sure you'll feel differently once you've calmed down," said Fudge in a worried tone. "They are your family, after all, and I'm sure you are fond of each other — er — very deep down."**

"Yeah sure just like I want to go back and live with my darling mom" Sirius stated sarcastically.

**It didn't occur to Harry to put Fudge right. He was still waiting to hear what was going to happen to him now.**

"**So all that remains," said Fudge, now buttering himself a second crumpet, "is to decide where you're going to spend the last two weeks of your vacation. I suggest you take a room here at the Leaky Cauldron and…"**

"**Hang on," blurted Harry. "What about my punishment?"**

**Fudge blinked. "Punishment?"**

"**I broke the law!" Harry said. "The Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry!"**

"**Oh, my dear boy, we're not going to punish you for a little thing like that!" cried Fudge, waving his crumpet impatiently. "It was an accident! We don't send people to Azkaban just for blowing up their aunts!"**

**But this didn't tally at all with Harry's past dealings with the Ministry of Magic.**

"**Last year, I got an official warning just because a house-elf smashed a pudding in my uncle's house!" he told Fudge, frowning. "The Ministry of Magic said I'd be expelled from Hogwarts if there was any more magic there!"**

**Unless Harry's eyes were deceiving him, Fudge was suddenly looking awkward.**

"**Circumstances change, Harry… We have to take into account… in the present climate… Surely you don't want to be expelled?"**

"**Of course I don't," said Harry.**

"**Well then, what's all the fuss about?" laughed Fudge. "Now, have a crumpet, Harry, while I go and see if Tom's got a room for you."**

**Fudge strode out of the parlor and Harry stared after him. There was something extremely odd going on. Why had Fudge been waiting for him at the Leaky Cauldron, if not to punish him for what he'd done? And now Harry came to think of it, surely it wasn't usual for the Minister of Magic himself to get involved in matters of underage magic?**

**Fudge came back, accompanied by Tom the innkeeper.**

"**Room eleven's free, Harry," said Fudge. "I think you'll be very comfortable just one thing, and I'm sure you'll understand… I don't want you wandering off into Muggle London, all right? Keep to Diagon Alley. And you're to be back here before dark each night. Sure you'll understand. Tom will be keeping an eye on you for me."**

"**Okay," said Harry slowly, "but why?"**

"**Don't want to lose you again, do we?" said Fudge with a hearty laugh. "No, no… best we know where you are… I mean…"**

**Fudge cleared his throat loudly and picked up his pinstriped cloak.**

"**Well, I'll be off, plenty to do, you know…"**

"**Have you had any luck with Black yet?" Harry asked.**

**Fudge's finger slipped on the silver fastenings of his cloak.**

"**What's that? Oh, you've heard - well, no, not yet, but it's only a matter of time. The Azkaban guards have never yet failed… and they are angrier than I've ever seen them."**

**Fudge shuddered slightly.**

"**So, I'll say good-bye."**

**He held out his hand and Harry, shaking it and with a last smile, Fudge left the room. Tom now moved forward, beaming at Harry.**

"**If you'll follow me, Mr. Potter," he said, "I've already taken your things up…"**

**Harry followed Tom up a handsome wooden staircase to a door with a brass number eleven on it, which Tom unlocked and opened for him.**

**Inside was a very comfortable-looking bed, some highly polished oak furniture, a cheerfully crackling fire and, perched on top of the wardrobe —**

"**Hedwig!" Harry gasped.**

**The snowy owl clicked her beak and fluttered down onto Harry's arm.**

"**Very smart owl you've got there," chuckled Tom. "Arrived about five minutes after you did. If there's anything you need, Mr. Potter, don't hesitate to ask."**

**He gave another bow and left.**

**Harry sat on his bed for a long time, absentmindedly stroking Hedwig. The sky outside the window was changing rapidly from deep, velvety blue to cold, steely gray and then, slowly, to pink shot with gold. Harry could hardly believe that he'd left Privet Drive only a few hours ago, that he wasn't expelled, and that he was now facing two completely Dursley-free weeks.**

"**It's been a very weird night, Hedwig," he yawned.**

**And without even removing his glasses, he slumped back onto his pillows and fell asleep.**

"That's the end of the chapter," James said. Lilly went to find Alice and Frank. Sirius and James went to check on Remus.


	7. The Leaky Cauldron

Sirius decided he would go to the kitchen to get himself and the others drinks, while they read. That left James to find Remus, which was not hard for him to find. For his friend was sitting by the lake. James asked Remus if he was okay, which Remus gave his friend a small smile. "Remus I know something is wrong and I know it has something to do with Lilly." Remus sighed, "You are right James, but I am sorry I can't tell you right now, I need sometime to be alone to sort things out." James nodded they sat in silence for a little while before James got up to head back in, he looked at his friend, "You know you can tell me anything right?" Remus nodded and James patted his friend on the back. He started to go when he heard his friend, "You should consider yourself lucky James." James looked at Remus with a raised eyebrow, "Lilly loves you James." James stood there shocked; he knew that someday Lilly was going to marry him and have a son thanks to what they have read, but to hear it from one of his friends, who appeared to be in love with the same girl, he didn't know what to think. He felt bad for his friend; he knew is friend felt hurt. He also knew it was not going to help Remus' self esteem. How many chances would Remus have again? How many girls would stick by Remus do to his "furry little problem?" James just nodded and resumed walking. He didn't know what to say to his friend. He felt horrible that Lilly choice him instead, but also felt happy.

When James returned back to the room of requirement, he gave Alice and Frank along with Molly and Arthur who Lilly invited as well a smile and sat next to Sirius instead of Lilly. He just felt that he needs to stay away from her to think about what Remus told him.

**The Leaky Cauldron**

**It took Harry several days to get used to his strange new freedom. **

"I bet."

**Never before had he been able to get up whenever he wanted or eat whatever he fancied. **

At this everyone looked at each other sadly and then glared at the book.

**He could even go wherever he pleased, as long as it was in Diagon Alley, and as this long cobbled street was packed with the most fascinating wizarding shops in the world, Harry felt no desire to break his word to Fudge and stray back into the Muggle world.**

**Harry ate breakfast each morning in the Leaky Cauldron, where he liked watching the other guests: funny little witches from the country, up for a day's shopping; venerable-looking wizards arguing over the latest article in Transfiguration Today; wild-looking warlocks; raucous dwarfs; and once, what looked suspiciously like a hag, who ordered a plate of raw liver from behind a thick woolen balaclava.**

"Yuk" stated everyone with wrinkled noses.

**After breakfast Harry would go out into the backyard, take out his wand, tap the third brick from the left above the trash bin, and stand back as the archway into Diagon Alley opened in the wall.**

**Harry spent the long sunny days exploring the shops and eating under the brightly colored umbrellas outside cafes with the mysterious dog who reappeared his first day exploring who decided to stay with him, **

James and Sirius smiled at each other.

**Where his fellow diners were showing one another their purchases ("It's a lunascope, old boy — no more messing around with moon charts, see?"). For some reason Harry decided to go and buy one after words, which his companion just raised an eyebrow at him. **

"Maybe he will give it to Moony" stated Sirius to James who nodded his head.

**That was one of the things that bothered Harry, he felt that the dog was very familiar some how.**

James and Sirius smiled. "What are up with you two" asked Molly. "Nothing" both boys stated a little too quickly.

**He also listened to others discussing the case of Sirius Black ("Personally, I won't let any of the children out alone until he's back in Azkaban"). **

Everyone gave Sirius a sad look.

**At this Nightshade, Harry decided to call his companion, whined. **

"I like it. Prongs your son has great taste in nicknames" stated Sirius. James smiled at his friend, "That he does Padfoot."

**Harry just would give him food or pet the dog on the head when every Sirius Black was mentioned. Harry could feel that the canine felt Harry's nerves when ever the escaped convict was mentioned.**

**Another benefit of his new found freedom was that Harry didn't have to do his homework under the blankets by flashlight anymore; now he could sit in the bright sunshine outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, finishing all his essays with occasional help from Florean Fortescue himself, who, apart from knowing a great deal about medieval witch burnings, gave Harry free sundaes every half an hour.**

"We will have to thank him James" stated Lilly who nodded his head.

**The only downside was know his nights consist of nightmares about how the Dursleys treated him, which thanks to Nightshade was decreasing progressively due to the fact that the dog would be at the foot of his bed. Until a nightmare would occur then Harry would wake up to the dog liking his face and he would hug the dog and fall asleep and that's how the two would wake up.**

"Awe" cooed the girls, while the boys rolled the eyes.

**Once Harry had refilled his money bag with gold Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts from his vault at Gringotts, he had to exercise a lot of self-control not to spend the whole lot at once. He had to keep reminding himself that he had five years to go at Hogwarts, and how it would feel to ask the Dursleys for money for spellbooks, to stop himself from buying a handsome set of solid gold Gobstones (a wizarding game rather like marbles, in which the stones squirt a nasty-smelling liquid into the other player's face when they lose a point). He was sorely tempted, too, by the perfect, moving model of the galaxy in a large glass ball, which would have meant he never had to take another Astronomy lesson. But the thing that tested Harry's resolution most appeared in his favorite shop, Quality Quidditch Supplies, a week after he'd arrived at the Leaky Cauldron.**

Sirius was quickly writing down each item looked up when he herd Lilly had read this part. It was something very interesting and exciting for sure.

**Curious to know what the crowd in the shop was staring at, Harry edged his way inside and squeezed in among the excited witches and wizards until he glimpsed a newly erected podium, on which was mounted the most magnificent broom he had ever seen in his life.**

"**Just come out — prototype —" a square-jawed wizard was telling his companion.**

"**It's the fastest broom in the world, isn't it, Dad?" squeaked a boy younger than Harry, who was swinging off his father's arm.**

"**Irish International Side's just put in an order for seven of these beauties!" the proprietor of the shop told the crowd. "And they're favorites for the World Cup!"**

**A large witch in front of Harry moved, and he was able to read the sign next to the broom:**

**** THE FIREBOLT ****

Lilly silenced both Sirius and James before continuing to read.

**THIS STATE-OF-THE-ART RACING BROOM SPORTS A STREAM-LINED, SUPERFINE HANDLE OF ASH, TREATED WITH A DIAMOND-HARD POLISH AND HAND-NUMBERED WITH ITS OWN REGISTRATION NUMBER. EACH INDIVIDUALLY SELECTED BIRCH TWIG IN THE BROOMTAIL HAS BEEN HONED TO AERODYNAMIC PERFECTION, GIVING THE FIREBOLT UNSURPASSABLE BALANCE AND PINPOINT PRECISION. THE FIREBOLT HAS AN ACCELERATION OF 150 MILES AN HOUR IN TEN SECONDS AND INCORPORATES AN UNBREAKABLE BRAKING CHARM. PRICE ON REQUEST.**

**Price on request… Harry didn't like to think how much gold the Firebolt would cost. He had never wanted anything as much in his whole life — but he had never lost a Quidditch match on his Nimbus Two Thousand, and what was the point in emptying his Gringotts vault for the Firebolt, when he had a very good broom already? Harry didn't ask for the price, but he returned, almost every day after that, just to look at the Firebolt.**

Lilly unsilenced the two who started whispering two each other on how Sirius was going to have to get Harry this if it meant getting caught.

**There were, however, things that Harry needed to buy. He went to the Apothecary to replenish his store of potions ingredients, and as his school robes were now several inches too short in the arm and leg, he visited Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and bought new ones. Most important of all, he had to buy his new schoolbooks, which would include those for his two new subjects, Care of Magical Creatures and Divination.**

**What he didn't know that someone had seen him look at all the items he had to fight the erg for, but if someone would look closely it was not only Nightshade, but a figure in the shadows.**

"What" shouted everyone.

**Harry got a surprise as he looked in at the bookshop window. Instead of the usual display of gold-embossed spellbooks the size of paving slabs, there was a large iron cage behind the glass that held about a hundred copies of The Monster Book of Monsters. Torn pages were flying everywhere as the books grappled with each other, locked together in furious wrestling matches and snapping aggressively.**

**Harry pulled his booklist out of his pocket and consulted it for the first time. The Monster Book of Monsters was listed as the required book for Care of Magical Creatures. **

**Now Harry understood why Hagrid had said it would come in useful. He felt relieved; he had been wondering whether Hagrid wanted help with some terrifying new pet.**

**As Harry entered Flourish and Blotts, the manager came hurrying toward him.**

"**Hogwarts?" he said abruptly. "Come to get your new books?"**

"**Yes," said Harry, "I need —"**

"**Get out of the way," said the manager impatiently, brushing Harry aside. He drew on a pair of very thick gloves, picked up a large, knobbly walking stick, and proceeded toward the door of the Monster Books' cage.**

"**Hang on," said Harry quickly, "I've already got one of those."**

"**Have you?" A look of enormous relief spread over the manager's face. "Thank heavens for that. I've been bitten five times already this morning —"**

"Who in their right mind would have the children buy such a nasty book" asked Molly. Everyone looked at each other and stated at once, "Hagrid."

"What about Hagrid" someone asked. They all looked to see Remus with his eyes all blood shot.

"Hello Remus" stated Alice, Frank, Molly, and Arthur. "Hello" nodded to each person with a smile and sat next to Sirius on the other side. James whispered to his friend, "Are you okay." Remus smiled, "Never better mate. I am much better now." James could tell that his friend was still upset, but let it go.

**A loud ripping noise rent the air; two of the Monster Books had seized a third and were pulling it apart.**

"**Stop it! Stop it!" cried the manager, poking the walking stick through the bars and knocking the books apart. "I'm never stocking them again, never! It's been bedlam! I thought we'd seen the worst when we bought two hundred copies of the Invisible Book of Invisibility — cost a fortune, and we never found them… Well… is there anything else I can help you with?"**

"**Yes," said Harry, looking down his booklist, "I need Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky."**

"**Ah, starting Divination, are you?" said the manager, stripping off his gloves and leading Harry into the back of the shop, where there was a corner devoted to fortune-telling. A small table was stacked with volumes such as Predicting the Unpredictable: Insulate Yourself Against Shocks and Broken Balls: When Fortunes Turn Foul.**

"**Here you are," said the manager, who had climbed a set of steps to take down a thick, black-bound book. "Unfogging the Future. Very good guide to all your basic fortune-telling methods — palmistry, crystal balls, bird entrails."**

"What a bush of waist of time" stated Lilly. "It is" stated Alice, Frank, Molly, James and Sirius who were taking the class. Arthur was taking Muggle Studdies instead. Lilly was working on Ancient Ruins. Remus was taking both Ancient Ruins and Care of Magical Creatures.

**But Harry wasn't listening. His eyes had fallen on another book, which was among a display on a small table: Death Omens — What to Do When You Know the Worst Is Coming.**

"**Oh, I wouldn't read that if I were you," said the manager lightly, looking to see what Harry was staring at. "You'll start seeing death omens everywhere. It's enough to frighten anyone to death."**

**But Harry continued to stare at the front cover of the book; it showed a black dog large as a bear, with gleaming eyes. It looked almost like Nightshade who was waiting patiently outside for him.**

**The manager pressed Unfogging the Future into Harry's hands.**

**""Anything else?" he said." **"**Yes," said Harry, tearing his eyes away from the dog's and dazedly consulting his booklist. "Er — I need Intermediate Transfiguration and The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three."**

**Harry emerged from Flourish and Blotts ten minutes later with his new books under his arms and made his way back to the Leaky Cauldron, hardly noticing where he was going and bumping into several people.**

**He tramped up the stairs to his room, went inside, and tipped his books onto his bed. Somebody had been in to tidy; the windows were open and sun was pouring inside. Harry could hear the buses rolling by in the unseen Muggle street behind him and the sound of the invisible crowd below in Diagon Alley. He caught sight of himself in the mirror over the basin.**

"**You know you do look a lot like that death omen," he told his companion without looking at Nightshade defiantly. "It probably is just a coincidence," Harry said looking at his companion who was wagging his tail at him.**

**He raised his hand automatically and tried to make his hair lie flat**

"**You're fighting a losing battle there, dear," said his mirror in a wheezy voice.**

James laughed, "The mirror is right on that one son" as he ran his hand through his hair to make a point. Sirius and Remus laughed along. Lilly and the others rolled their eyes.

**As the days slipped by, Harry started looking wherever he went for a sign of Ron or Hermione. Plenty of Hogwarts students were arriving in Diagon Alley now, with the start of term so near. Harry met Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, his fellow Gryffindors, in Quality Quidditch Supplies, where they too were ogling the Firebolt; he also ran into the real Neville Longbottom, a round-faced, forgetful boy, outside Flourish and Blotts. Harry didn't stop to chat;**

**Neville appeared to have mislaid his booklist and was being told off by his very formidable-looking grandmother. **

Lilly explained who Neville was to the new comers. "I wander why he lives with your mother" stated Alice. Frank just shrugged his shoulders.

**Harry hoped she never found out that he'd pretended to be Neville while on the run from the Ministry of Magic.**

"She wouldn't really care" stated Frank.

**Harry woke on the last day of the holidays, his nightmares stopped, thinking that he would at least meet Ron and Hermione tomorrow, on the Hogwarts Express. He got up, dressed, went for a last look at the Firebolt, and was just wondering where he'd have lunch, when someone yelled his name and he turned.**

"**Harry! HARRY!"**

**They were there, both of them, sitting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor — Ron looking incredibly freckly, Hermione very brown, both waving frantically at him.**

"**Finally!" said Ron, grinning at Harry as he sat down. "We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they said you'd left, and we went to Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's, and —"**

"**I got all my school stuff last week," Harry explained. "And how come you knew I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron?"**

"**Dad," said Ron simply.**

**Mr. Weasley, who worked at the Ministry of Magic, would of course have heard the whole story of what had happened to Aunt Marge.**

"**Did you really blow up your aunt, Harry?" said Hermione in a very serious voice.**

"Don't even think about it Sirius" stated Remus to Sirius who looked like he was about to make a comment.

"**I didn't mean to," said Harry, while Ron roared with laughter. "I just — lost control."**

**Nightshade snorted and gave him a look like, "Keep telling yourself that."**

"**It's not funny, Ron," said Hermione sharply. "Honestly, I'm amazed Harry wasn't expelled. Oh and who is this handsome boy," she said as she noticed the happy dog.**

**Harry introduced his friends to his new pet.**

"**So am I," admitted Harry. "Forget expelled, I thought I was going to be arrested." He looked at Ron. "Your dad doesn't know why Fudge let me off, does he?"**

"**Probably 'cause it's you, isn't it?" shrugged Ron, still chuckling. "Famous Harry Potter and all that. **

**I'd hate to see what the Ministry'd do to me if I blew up an aunt. Mind you, they'd have to dig me up first, because Mum would've killed me. Anyway, you can ask Dad yourself this evening. We're staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight too! So you can come to King's Cross with us tomorrow! Hermione's there as well!"**

**Hermione nodded, beaming. "Mum and Dad dropped me off this morning with all my Hogwarts things."**

"**Excellent!" said Harry happily. "So, have you got all your new books and stuff?"**

"**Look at this," said Ron, pulling a long thin box out of a bag and opening it. "Brand-new wand. Fourteen inches, willow, containing one unicorn tail-hair. And we've got all our books —" He pointed at a large bag under his chair. "What about those Monster Books, eh? The assistant nearly cried when we said we wanted two."**

"I would too" laughed Remus. "What" he stopped laughing because every one was giving him strange looks. "How are you and what have you done with Remus Lupin" stated Sirius. Remus laughed again. Everyone looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

"**What's all that, Hermione?" Harry asked, pointing at not one but three bulging bags in the chair next to her.**

"**Well, I'm taking more new subjects than you, aren't I," said Hermione. "Those are my books for Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, the Study of Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies —"**

**Nightshade gave the girl a look like "Are you crazy."**

Sirius nodded his head agreeing with the dog.

"**What are you doing Muggle Studies for?" said Ron, rolling his eyes at Harry. "You're Muggle-born! Your mum and dad are Muggles! You already know all about Muggles!"**

"**But it'll be fascinating to study them from the wizarding point of view," said Hermione earnestly.**

"Oh brother" stated everyone in the room. The girl was too much.

"**Are you planning to eat or sleep at all this year, Hermione?" asked Harry, while Ron sniggered and Nightshade yipped. Hermione ignored them.**

"**I've still got ten Galleons," she said, checking her purse. "It's my birthday in September, and Mum and Dad gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present."**

"**How about a nice book? said Ron innocently.**

"**No, I don't think so," said Hermione composedly. "I really want an owl. I mean, Harry's got Hedwig and you've got Errol —"**

"**I haven't," said Ron. "Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers." He pulled his pet rat out of his pocket. "And I want to get him checked over," he added, placing Scabbers on the table in front of them. "I don't think Egypt agreed with him."**

**Scabbers was looking thinner than usual, and there was a definite droop to his whiskers. Nightshade let out a growl causing the rat to get nervous. Harry gave him a funny look and the dog backed off.**

"**There's a magical creature shop just over there," said Harry, who knew Diagon Alley very well by now. "You could see if they've got anything for Scabbers, and Hermione can get her owl. Besides I need to go get a couple of items for Nightshade, wait were did he go?" They looked, Harry shrugged he felt for some reason he didn't need to be worried about the dog and that he would see him later.**

**So they paid for their ice cream and crossed the street to the Magical Menagerie.**

**There wasn't much room inside. Every inch of wall was hidden by cages. It was smelly and very noisy because the occupants of these cages were all squeaking, squawking, jabbering, or hissing. The witch behind the counter was already advising a wizard on the care of double-ended newts, so Harry, Ron, and Hermione waited, examining the cages.**

**A pair of enormous purple toads sat gulping wetly and feasting on dead blowflies. A gigantic tortoise with a jewel-encrusted shell was glittering near the window. Poisonous orange snails were oozing slowly up the side of their glass tank, and a fat white rabbit kept changing into a silk top hat and back again with a loud popping noise. Then there were cats of every color, a noisy cage of ravens, a basket of funny custard-colored furballs that were humming loudly, and on the counter, a vast cage of sleek black rats that were playing some sort of skipping game using their long, bald tails.**

**The double-ended newt wizard left, and Ron approached the counter.**

"**It's my rat," he told the witch. "He's been a bit off-color ever since I brought him back from Egypt."**

"**Put him on the counter," said the witch, pulling a pair of heavy black spectacles out of her pocket.**

**Ron lifted Scabbers out of his inside pocket and placed him next to the cage of his fellow rats, who stopped their skipping tricks and scuffled to the wire for a better took.**

**Like nearly everything Ron owned, Scabbers the rat was secondhand (he had once belonged to Ron's brother Percy) and a bit battered. Next to the glossy rats in the cage, he looked especially woebegone.**

"**Hm," said the witch, picking up Scabbers. "How old is this rat?"**

"**Dunno," said Ron. "Quite old. He used to belong to my brother."**

"**What powers does he have?" said the witch, examining Scabbers closely.**

"**Er —" The truth was that Scabbers had never shown the faintest trace of interesting powers. The witch's eyes moved from Scabbers's tattered left ear to his front paw, which had a toe missing and tutted loudly.**

"**He's been through the mill, this one," she said.**

"**He was like that when Percy gave him to me," said Ron defensively.**

"**An ordinary common or garden rat like this can't be expected to live longer than three years or so," said the witch. "Now, if you were looking for something a bit more hard-wearing, you might like one of these —"**

**She indicated the black rats, who promptly started skipping again. Ron muttered, "Show-offs."**

"**Well, if you don't want a replacement, you can try this rat tonic," said the witch, reaching under the counter and bringing out a small red bottle.**

"**Okay," said Ron. "How much — OUCH!"**

**Ron buckled as something huge and orange came soaring from the top of the highest cage, landed on his head, and then propelled itself, spitting madly, at Scabbers.**

"**NO, CROOKSHANKS, NO!" cried the witch, but Scabbers shot from between her hands like a bar of soap, landed splay-legged on the floor, and then scampered for the door.**

"**Scabbers!" Ron shouted, racing out of the shop after him; Harry followed.**

**It took them nearly ten minutes to catch Scabbers, who had taken refuge under a wastepaper bin outside Quality Quidditch Supplies. Ron stuffed the trembling rat back into his pocket and straightened up, massaging his head.**

"**What was that?"**

"**It was either a very big cat or quite a small tiger," said Harry.**

Everyone laughed at this.

"**Where's Hermione?"**

"**Probably getting her owl."**

**They made their way back up the crowded street to the Magical Menagerie. As they reached it, Hermione came out, but she wasn't carrying an owl. Her arms were clamped tightly around the enormous ginger cat. But as they came closer it was an orange cat like creature with a ring tail like a raccoon, but with a long nose like a coati. Harry recognized it from a book as a Nasual. **

"**You bought that monster?" said Ron, his mouth hanging open.**

"**He's gorgeous, isn't he?" said Hermione, glowing.**

**That was a matter of opinion, thought Harry. The cat's ginger fur was thick and fluffy, but it was definitely a bit bowlegged and its face looked grumpy and oddly squashed, as though it had run headlong into a brick wall and its long nose looked like a vacuum hose. **

"Definitely a Nasual" stated Remus.

**Now that Scabbers was out of sight, however, the animal was purring contentedly in Hermione's arms.**

"**Hermione, that thing nearly scalped me!" said Ron.**

"**He didn't mean to, did you, Crookshanks?" said Hermione.**

"**And what about Scabbers?" said Ron, pointing at the lump in his chest pocket. "He needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to get it with that thing around?"**

"**That reminds me, you forgot your rat tonic," said Hermione, slapping the small red bottle into Ron's hand. "And stop worrying, Crookshanks will be sleeping in my dormitory and Scabbers in yours, what's the problem? Poor Crookshanks, that witch said he'd been in there for ages; no one wanted him."**

"**Wonder why," said Ron sarcastically as they set off toward the Leaky Cauldron.**

**They found Mr. Weasley sitting in the bar, reading the Daily Prophet.**

"**Harry!" he said, smiling as he looked up. "How are you?"**

"**Fine, thanks," said Harry as he shook Mr. Weasley with their shopping.**

**Mr. Weasley put down his paper and Harry saw the now familiar picture of Sirius Black staring up at him.**

"**They still haven't caught him, then?" he asked.**

"**No," said Mr. Weasley, looking extremely grave. "They've pulled us all off our regular jobs at the Ministry to try and find him, but no luck so far."**

"**Would we get a reward if we caught him?" asked Ron. "It'd be good to get some more money —"**

"**Don't be ridiculous, Ron," said Mr. Weasley, who on closer inspection looked very strained. "Black's not going to be caught by a thirteen-year-old wizard. It's the Azkaban guards who'll get him back, you mark my words."**

**At that moment Mrs. Weasley entered the bar, laden with shopping bags and followed by the twins, Fred and George, who were about to start their fifth year at Hogwarts; the newly elected Head Boy, Percy; and the Weasleys' youngest child and only girl, Ginny.**

**Ginny, who had always been very taken with Harry, seemed even more heartily embarrassed than usual when she saw him, perhaps because he had saved her life during their previous year at Hogwarts. **

"What" paled Arthur and Molly.

**She went very red and muttered "hello" without looking at him. **

**Percy, however, held out his hand solemnly as though he and Harry had never met and said, "Harry. How nice to see you."**

"**Hello, Percy," said Harry, trying not to laugh.**

"**I hope you're well?" said Percy pompously, shaking hands. It was rather like being introduced to the mayor.**

"**Very well, thanks —"**

"**Harry!" said Fred, elbowing Percy out of the way and bowing deeply. "Simply splendid to see you, old boy —"**

"**Marvelous," said George, pushing Fred aside and seizing Harry's hand in turn. "Absolutely spiffing."**

**Percy scowled as Harry laughed at the twins actics.**

"**That's enough, now," said Mrs. Weasley.**

"**Mum!" said Fred, as though he'd only just spotted her and seizing her hand, too. "How really corking to see you —"**

"**I said, that's enough," said Mrs. Weasley, depositing her shopping in an empty chair. "Hello, Harry, dear. I suppose you've heard our exciting news?" She pointed to the brand-new silver badge on Percy's chest. "Second Head Boy in the family!" she said, swelling with pride.**

"**And last," Fred muttered under his breath.**

"**I don't doubt that," said Mrs. Weasley, frowning suddenly. "I notice they haven't made you two prefects."**

"**What do we want to be prefects for?" said George, looking revolted at the very idea. "It'd take all the fun out of life."**

**Ginny giggled. Harry could not picture those Prefects.**

"Neither could we, but who would have thought Moony here became one" stated Sirius.

"Look how I turned out to be" laughed Remus. Sirius and James laughed along with his friend.

"**You want to set a better example for your sister!" snapped Mrs. Weasley.**

"**Ginny's got other brothers to set her an example, Mother," said Percy loftily. "I'm going up to change for dinner…"**

"**Yeah like Bill and Charlie" stated Ginny who smiled innocently. Mr. Weasley and Harry noticed her eyes showing mysterious sparkles in them. Mr. Weasley winked at both his daughter and then at Harry, "It is a shame that you don't have any brothers around your age that could be a better role model."**

**The next couple of minutes were spent laughing do to Ron falling for it and then the twins playing right along.**

**Percy however disappeared and George heaved a sigh.**

"**We tried to shut him in a pyramid," he told Harry. "But Mum spotted us."**

Everyone laughed except Molly and Lilly.

**Dinner that night was a very enjoyable affair. Tom the innkeeper put three tables together in the parlor, and the seven Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione ate their way through five delicious courses.**

"**How're we getting to King's Cross tomorrow, Dad?" asked Fred as they dug into a sumptuous chocolate pudding.**

"**The Ministry's providing a couple of cars," said Mr. Weasley.**

**Everyone looked up at him.**

"**Why?" said Percy curiously.**

"Arthur, Molly, I apologize, but your son is a prat" stated James. "I agree' stated the couple.

"**It's because of you, Perce," said George seriously. "And there'll be little flags on the hoods, with HB on them—"**

"— **for Humongous Bighead," said Fred.**

Everyone laughed, except Lilly who smirked.

**Everyone except Percy and Mrs. Weasley snorted into their pudding.**

"**Why are the Ministry providing cars, Father?" Percy asked again, in a dignified voice.**

"**Well, as we haven't got one anymore," said Mr. Weasley, "and as I work there, they're doing me a favor…"**

**His voice was casual, but Harry couldn't help noticing that Mr. Wesley's ears had gone red, just like Ron's did when he was under pressure.**

"**Good thing, too," said Mrs. Weasley briskly. "Do you realize how much luggage you've all got between you? A nice sight you'd be on the Muggle Underground… You are all packed, aren't you?"**

"**Ron hasn't put all his new things in his trunk yet," said Percy, in a long-suffering voice. "He's dumped them on my bed."**

"**You'd better go and pack properly, Ron, because we won't have much time in the morning," Mrs. Weasley called down the table. Ron scowled at Percy.**

**After dinner everyone felt very full and sleepy. One by one they made their way upstairs to their rooms to check their things for the next day. Ron and Percy were next door to Harry. **

**He had just closed and locked his own trunk when he heard angry voices through the wall, and went to see what was going on.**

**The door of number twelve was ajar and Percy was shouting.**

"**It was here, on the bedside table, I took it off for polishing —"**

"**I haven't touched it, all right?" Ron roared back.**

"**What's up?" said Harry.**

"**My Head Boy badge is gone," said Percy, rounding on Harry.**

"**So's Scabbers's Rat Tonic," said Ron, throwing things out of his trunk to look. "I think I might've left it in the bar —"**

"**You're not going anywhere till you've found my badge!" yelled Percy.**

"**I'll get Scabbers's stuff, I'm packed," Harry said to Ron, and he went downstairs.**

**Harry was halfway along the passage to the bar, which was now very dark, when he heard another pair of angry voices coming from the parlor. A second later, he recognized them as Mr. and Mrs. Weasleys'. He hesitated, not wanting them to know he'd heard them arguing, when the sound of his own name made him stop, then move closer to the parlor door.**

"… **makes no sense not to tell him," Mr. Weasley was saying heatedly. "Harry's got a right to know. I've tried to tell Fudge, but he insists on treating Harry like a child. He's thirteen years old and —"**

"**Arthur, the truth would terrify him!" said Mrs. Weasley shrilly. "Do you really want to send Harry back to school with that hanging over him? For heaven's sake, he's happy not knowing!"**

"**I don't want to make him miserable, I want to put him on his guard!" retorted Mr. Weasley. "You know what Harry and Ron are like, wandering off by themselves — they've ended up in the Forbidden Forest twice! **

"What." Remus covered his ears along with the others as they listened to Molly and Lilly yell for fifteen minutes.

**But Harry mustn't do that this year! When I think what could have happened to him that night he ran away from home! If the Knight Bus hadn't picked him up, I'm prepared to bet he would have been dead before the Ministry found him."**

"**But he's not dead, he's fine, so what's the point —"**

"**Molly, they say Sirius Black's mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, and that's supposed to be impossible. It's been three weeks, and no one's seen hide nor hair of him, and I don't care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet, we're no nearer catching Black than inventing self-spelling wands. The only thing we know for sure is what Black's after —"**

"**But Harry will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts."**

"**We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts."**

"**But no one's really sure that Black's after Harry —"**

**There was a thud on wood, Harry jumped and Harry was sure Mr. Weasley had banged his fist on the table.**

"**Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They didn't report it in the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Blacks been talking in his sleep for a while now. Always the same words: 'He's at Hogwarts… he's at Hogwarts.' **

"** Black is deranged, Molly, and he wants Harry dead. If you ask me, he thinks murdering Harry will bring You-Know-Who back to power. **

"**Well that would make the Dursleys day" thought Harry.**

Sirius and Remus growled, while Lilly looked ready to set the book on fire and James wanted to go and murder his in-laws.

**Black lost everything the night Harry stopped You-Know-Who, and he's had twelve years alone in Azkaban to brood on that…"**

**There was a silence. Harry leaned still closer to the door, desperate to hear more.**

"**Well, Arthur, you must do what you think is right. But you're forgetting Albus Dumbledore. I don't think anything could hurt Harry at Hogwarts while Dumbledore's Headmaster. I suppose he knows about all this?"**

"**Of course he knows. We had to ask him if he minds the Azkaban guards stationing themselves around the entrances to the school grounds. He wasn't happy about it, but he agreed."**

"**Not happy? Why shouldn't he be happy, if they're there to catch Black?"**

"**Dumbledore isn't fond of the Azkaban guards," said Mr. Weasley heavily. "Nor am I, if it comes to that… but when you're dealing with a wizard like Black, you sometimes have to join forces with those you'd rather avoid."**

"**If they save Harry —"**

"– **then I will never say another word against them," said Mr. Weasley wearily. "It's late, Molly, we'd better go up…"**

**Harry heard chairs move. As quietly as he could, he hurried down the passage to the bar and out of sight. The parlor door opened, and a few seconds later footsteps told him that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were climbing the stairs.**

**The bottle of rat tonic was lying under the table they had sat at earlier. Harry waited until he heard Mr. and Mrs. Wesley's bedroom door close, then started to head back upstairs with the bottle, but when he turned around he almost dropped it.**

**There stood Mr. Weasley, "I suppose you herd all that." **

**All Harry could do was nodding his head and not look him in the eye.**

**Arthur was looking Harry over, Harry was acting odd. He would have thought it to be due to what the boy had heard, but **

"I don't like this" stated Remus who paled. When everyone was looking at him he waved for Lilly to continue reading, he just hopped he was wrong.

**He remembers when Harry was over to their house last year. Molly told him that when she was yelling at the twins and Ron for taking the car to rescue Harry that Harry was terrified that she was going to hit him and that it took the twins to trust her.**

Lilly stopped reading and was now crying, Remus moved to go comfort her, but stopped midway. James gave his friend a sad smile when he noticed this movement and went to comfort Lilly.

James passed the book to Remus to continue reading. Sirius was too pale, for he knew what it was like due to the fact that his "family" abused him before he moved in with James.

**And when Arthur came home from work and sat down next to Harry, the poor lad wouldn't stop moving he ended up switching places with Ron. At first he thought maybe that Harry wasn't comfortable around adult males, but know he was starting to think this was not the cause. That Harry has been abused by not only his aunt, but his uncle as well.**

**Arthur stepped closer to Harry, he could feel and see the teen tense up. He slowly wrapped an arm around Harry and led him to a chair ignoring the flinching and shaking.**

**Harry heard Mr. Weasley sigh, "Harry I am not upset for you listening to the conversation."**

**Harry looked up to see that Mr. Weasley meant it, but he wouldn't let him see how relieved he was.**

**Arthur could see the relieve in the boys eyes. Arthur was going to plan on talking to Harry about Sirius Black, but instead decided to talk about more important matters.**

"**Harry I want you to know if there is a time that you feel the need to talk to someone and you don't feel like talking to Ron or someone your own age, you can talk to me and I will listen."**

**Harry just nodded he didn't know what to say. He felt like Mr. Weasley had enough to worry about with his own children and family that the man didn't need to worry about him as well.**

**Arthur could tell that Harry was still not that comfortable so he kept talking to the teen about anything. **

**He spent an hour talking that they Harry did mention somethings, but nothing about how he felt towards Sirius or the Dursleys. So Mr. Weasley told Harry it was getting late, but before he let the teen go it told Harry that if it was okay with him that him and Molly would come to Hogwarts for Christmas.**

"**You don't have to Mr. Weasley" stated Harry. "I know we don't have to and I am not saying this because you are Ron's friend, but because Molly and I both feel that you are part of this family and you will always be."**

**This caused Harry to turn down his barriers and give the man a true smile before going up the stairs.**

**Fred and George were crouching in the shadows on the landing, heaving with laughter as they listened to Percy dismantling his and Ron's room in search of his badge.**

"**We've got it," Fred whispered to Harry. "We've been improving it."**

**The badge now read Bighead Boy.**

**Harry forced a laugh, went to give Ron the rat tonic, then shut himself in his room and lay down on his bed.**

**So Sirius Black was after him. **

**This explained everything. Fudge had been lenient with him because he was so relieved to find him alive. He'd made Harry promise to stay in Diagon Alley where there were plenty of wizards to keep an eye on him. And he was sending two Ministry cars to take them all to the station tomorrow, so that the Weasleys could look after Harry until he was on the train.**

**Harry lay listening to the muffled shouting next door and wondered why he didn't feel more scared. Sirius Black had murdered thirteen people with one curse. But Harry happened to agree wholeheartedly with Mrs. Weasley that the safest place on earth was wherever Albus Dumbledore happened to be. Didn't people always say that Dumbledore was the only person Lord Voldemort had ever been afraid of? Surely Black, as Voldemort's right-hand man, would be just as frightened of him?**

**And then there were these Azkaban guards everyone kept talking about. They seemed to scare most people senseless, and if they were stationed all around the school, Black's chances of getting inside seemed very remote.**

**No, all in all, the thing that bothered Harry most was the fact that his chances of visiting Hogsmeade now looked like zero. Nobody would want Harry to leave the safety of the castle until Black was caught; in fact, Harry suspected his every move would be carefully watched until the danger had passed.**

**He scowled at the dark ceiling. Did they think he couldn't look after himself? He'd escaped Lord Voldemort three times; he wasn't completely useless…**

**Unbidden, the image of the beast in the shadows of Magnolia Crescent crossed his mind. What to do when you know the worst is coming…**

"**I'm not going to be murdered," Harry said out loud.**

"**That's the spirit, dear," said his mirror sleepily.**

**With that he went to sleep thinking about Black, but also what Mr. Weasley had told him.**

Lilly and James hugged Molly and Arthur. They decided they needed a break.

**Quick note: Please review. I don't know how to write the way Maurader's and friends react to what they read. So I may just continue with the story without the friends reading. If someone wants to continue with their reactions feel free. Just let me know. School is coming to a close and the board exam for the vet tech license is getting closer, so I will update when I can. Thanks.**

**Oh, and if someone does decide to do a sister story to this where the friends read this email me, so I can tell you my vision with Lilly and Remus' relationship.**


	8. Dementors

I am no longer writing how the Maurader's react to the events that they read. I am justing going to make my changes to the chapters. If some one wants to make a story with the Maurader's and friends read go ahead. Please let me know. In the meantime enjoy.

**"The Dementor," **

**Tom woke Harry the next morning with his usual toothless grin and a cup of tea. Harry got dressed and was just persuading a disgruntled Hedwig to get back into her cage when Ron banged his way into the room, pulling a sweatshirt over his head and looking irritable.**

"**The sooner we get on the train, the better," he said. "At least I can get away from Percy at Hogwarts. Now he's accusing me of dripping tea on his photo of Penelope Clearwater. You know," Ron grimaced, "his girlfriend. She's hidden her face under the frame because her nose has gone all blotchy…"**

"**I've got something to tell you," Harry began, but they were interrupted by Fred and George, who had looked in to congratulate Ron on infuriating Percy again.**

**They headed down to breakfast, where Mr. Weasley was reading the front page of the Daily Prophet with a furrowed brow and Mrs. Weasley was telling Hermione and Ginny about a love potion she'd made as a young girl. All three of them were rather giggly.**

"**What were you saying?" Ron asked Harry as they sat down.**

"**Later," Harry muttered as Percy stormed in.**

**Harry had no chance to speak to Ron or Hermione in the chaos of leaving; they were too busy heaving all their trunks down the Leaky Cauldron's narrow staircase and piling them up near the door, with Hedwig and Hermes, Percy's screech owl, perched on top in their cages. A small wickerwork basket stood beside the heap of trunks, spitting loudly.**

"**It's all right, Crookshanks," Hermione cooed through the wickerwork. "I'll let you out on the train."**

"**You won't," snapped Ron. "What about poor Scabbers, eh?"**

**He pointed at his chest, where a large lump indicated that Scabbers, his pet rat was curled up in his pocket.**

**Mr. Weasley, who had been outside waiting for the Ministry cars, stuck his head inside.**

"**They're here," he said. "Harry, come on."**

**Mr. Weasley marched Harry across the short stretch of pavement toward the first of two old-fashioned dark green cars, each of which was driven by a furtive-looking wizard wearing a suit of emerald velvet.**

"**In you get, Harry," said Mr. Weasley, glancing up and down the crowded street.**

**Harry got into the back of the car and was shortly joined by Hermione, Ron, and, to Ron's disgust, Percy.**

**The journey to King's Cross was very uneventful compared with Harry's trip on the Knight Bus. **

**The Ministry of Magic cars seemed almost ordinary. though Harry noticed that they could slide through gaps that Uncle Vernon's new company car certainly couldn't have managed. They reached King's Cross with twenty minutes to spare; the Ministry drivers found them trolleys, unloaded their trunks, touched their hats in salute to Mr. Weasley, and drove away, somehow managing to jump to the head of an unmoving line at the traffic lights.**

**Mr. Weasley kept close to Harry's elbow all the way into the station.**

"**Right then," he said, glancing around them. "Let's do this in pairs, as there are so many of us. I'll go through first with Harry."**

**Mr. Weasley strolled toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten, pushing Harry's trolley and apparently very interested in the InterCity 125 that had just arrived at platform nine. With a meaningful look at Harry, he leaned casually against the barrier. Harry imitated him.**

**In a moment, they had fallen sideways through the solid metal onto platform nine and three-quarters and looked up to see the Hogwarts Express, a scarlet steam engine, puffing smoke over a platform packed with witches and wizards seeing their children onto the train.**

**Percy and Ginny suddenly appeared behind Harry. They were panting and had apparently taken the barrier at a run.**

"**Ah, there's Penelope!" said Percy, smoothing his hair and going pink again. Ginny caught Harry's eye, and they both turned away to hide their laughter** **as Percy strode over to a girl with long, curly hair, walking with his chest thrown out so that she couldn't miss his shiny badge.**

**Once the remaining Weasleys and Hermione had joined them, Harry and Mr. Weasley led the way to the end of the train, past packed compartments, to a carriage that looked quite empty. They loaded the trunks onto it, stowed Hedwig and Crookshanks in the luggage rack, then went back outside to say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.**

**Mrs. Weasley kissed all her children, then Hermione, and finally Harry. He was embarrassed, but really quite pleased, when she gave him an extra hug.**

"**Do take care, won't you Harry?" she said as she straightened up, her eyes oddly bright. Then she opened her enormous handbag and said, "I've made you all sandwiches. Here you are, Ron… no, they're not corned beef… Fred? Where's Fred? Here you are dear…"**

"**Harry," said Mr. Weasley quietly, "come over here for a moment."**

**He jerked his head towards a pillar, and Harry followed him behind it, leaving the others crowded around Mrs. Weasley.**

"**I never got discuss with you Harry about Black" Arthur said as put his hand on Harry's shoulder, Harry flinched a little. **

"**It's okay Mr. Weasley I am not scared"**** said Harry sincerely. **

"**Really," he added, because Mr. Weasley was looking disbelieving. "I'm not trying to be a hero, but seriously, Sirius Black can't be worse than Lord Voldemort, can he?"**

**Mr. Weasley flinched at the sound of the name, but overlooked it.**

"**Harry, I knew you were, well, made of stronger stuff than Fudge seems to think, and I'm obviously pleased that you're not scared, but —"**

"**Arthur!" called Mrs. Weasley, who was now shepherding the rest onto the train. "Arthur, what are you doing? It's about to go!"**

"**He's coming Molly!" said Mr. Weasley, but he turned back to Harry and kept talking in a lower and more hurried voice, "Listen, I want you to give me your word —"**

" — **that I'll be a good boy and stay in the castle?" said Harry gloomily.**

"**Not entirely," said Mr. Weasley, who looked more serious than Harry had ever seen him. "Harry, swear to me you won't go looking for Black."**

**Harry stared, "What!"**

**There was a loud whistle. Guards were walking along the train, slamming all the doors shut.**

"**Promise me, Harry," said Mr. Weasley, talking more quickly still, "that whatever happens —"**

"**Why would I go looking for someone I know wants to kill me?" said Harry blankly.**

"**Swear to me that whatever you might hear —"**

"**Arthur, quickly!" cried Mrs. Weasley.**

**Steam was billowing from the train it had started to move. Harry ran to the compartment door and Ron threw it open and stood back to let him on. They leaned out of the window and waved at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley until the train turned a corner and blocked them from view.**

"**I need to talk to you in private," Harry muttered to Ron and Hermione as the train picked up speed.**

"**Go away, Ginny," said Ron.**

"**Oh, that's nice," said Ginny huffily, and she start to walk away.**

"**No it is okay you can come." Ron looked like he wanted to protested, but Harry gave him a look as if he was telling his friend, "After everything that happened last year we are not going to leave her out." Ron nodded his head in understand his friend's look.**

**The four set off down the corridor, looking for an empty compartment, but all were full except for the one at the very end of the train.**

**This had only one occupant, a man sitting fast asleep next to the window (or so they thought). Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione checked on the threshold. The Hogwarts Express was usually reserved for students and they had never seen an adult there before, except for the witch who pushed the food cart.**

**The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with gray. He looked to be very muscular as well.**

"**Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron hissed as they sat down and slid the door shut, taking the seats farthest away from the window. Harry sat next to him and Hermonie sat across from Harry next to Ron. Ginny sat next to Hermione.**

"**Professor R. J. Lupin." whispered Hermione at once.**

"**How'd you know that?"**

"**It's on his case," she replied, pointing at the luggage rack over the man's head, where there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted string. The name Professor R. J. Lupin was stamped across one corner in peeling letters.**

"**Wonder what he teaches?" said Ron, frowning at Professor Lupin's pallid profile.**

"**That's obvious," whispered Hermione. "There's only one vacancy, isn't there? Defense Against the Dark Arts."**

**The four had already had two Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, both of whom had lasted only one year. There were rumors that the job was jinxed.**

"**Well, I hope he's up to it," said Ron doubtfully. "He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he? **

**Anyway…" he turned to Harry, "what were you going to tell us?"**

**Harry explained all about Mr. and Mrs. Wesley's argument and the warning Mr. Weasley had just given him. When he'd finished, Ron looked thunderstruck, and Hermione had her hands over her mouth. Ginny looked pale and her eyes were popping out of her head. Hermione finally lowered them to say, "Sirius Black escaped to come after you? Oh, Harry… you'll have to be really, really careful. don't go looking for trouble, Harry…"**

"**I don't go looking for trouble," said Harry, nettled. "Trouble usually finds me."**

"**How thick would Harry have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?" said Ron shakily.**

**They were taking the news worse than Harry had expected. Both Ron and Hermione seemed to be much more frightened of Black than he was.**

**"What did you expect Harry, a criminal broke out of prison just to kill you. Out of bloody Azkaban no less," Harry thought to himself.**

"**No one knows how he got out of Azkaban," said Ron uncomfortably. "No one's ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner too."**

"**But they'll catch him, won't they?" said Hermione earnestly. "I mean, they've got all the Muggles looking out for him too…"**

"**What's that noise?" said Ron suddenly.**

**A faint, tinny sort of whistle was coming from somewhere. They looked all around the compartment.**

"**It's coming from your trunk, Harry," said Ron, standing up and reaching into the luggage rack. A moment later he had pulled the Pocket Sneakoscope out from between Harry's robes. It was spinning very fast in the palm of Ron's hand and glowing brilliantly.**

"**Is that a Sneakoscope?" said Hermione interestedly, standing up for a better look.**

"**Yeah… mind you, it's a very cheap one," Ron said. "It went haywire just as I was tying it to Errol's leg to send it to Harry."**

"**Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?" said Hermione shrewdly.**

"**No! Well… I wasn't supposed to be using Errol. You know he's not really up to long journeys… but how else was I supposed to get Harry's present to him?"**

"**Stick it back in the trunk," Harry advised as the Sneakoscope whistled piercingly, "or it'll wake him up."**

**He nodded toward Professor Lupin. **

**But their Professor was already awake, for he had been since they had walked into his compartment.**

**He watched and listened to everything that Harry had said and done. It was like looking at James, but with Lilly's eyes.**

**Remus wanted to growl when that traitor's name was mentioned, but thought better of it. Sirius may have gotten Lilly and James killed by turning them over to Voldermort.**

**But he would not let that traitor hurt the last member of his pack, he would kill that traitor or die trying.**

**Ron stuffed the Sneakoscope into a particularly horrible pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks, which deadened the sound, then closed the lid of the trunk on it.**

"**We could get it checked in Hogsmeade," said Ron, sitting back down. **

"**They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff. Fred and George told me."**

"**Do you know much about Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione keenly. "I've read it's the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain —"**

"**Yeah, I think it is," said Ron in an offhand sort of way. "but that's not why I want to go. I just want to get inside Honeydukes!"**

"**What's that?" said Hermione.**

"**It's this sweetshop," said Ron, a dreamy look coming over his face, "where they've got everything… Pepper Imps — they make you smoke at the mouth — and great fat Chocoballs full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream, and really excellent sugar quills, which you can suck in class and just look like you're thinking what to write next–"**

"**But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place, isn't it?" Hermione pressed on eagerly. "In Sites of Historical Sorcery it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain —"**

"– **and massive sherbet balls that make you levitate a few inches off the ground while you're sucking them," said Ron, who was plainly not listening to a word Hermione was saying.**

**Hermione looked around at Harry.**

"**Won't it be nice to get out of school for a bit and explore Hogsmeade?"**

"'**Spect it will," said Harry heavily. "You'll have to tell me when you've found out."**

"**What d'you mean?" said Ron.**

"**I can't go. The Dursleys didn't sign my permission form, and Fudge wouldn't either."**

**Ron looked horrified.**

"**You're not allowed to come? But — no way — McGonagall or someone will give you permission —"**

**Harry gave a hollow laugh. Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house, was very strict.**

"– **or we can ask Fred and George, they know every secret passage out of the castle —"**

"**Ron!" said Hermione sharply. "I don't think Harry should be sneaking out of the school with Black on the loose —"**

"**Yeah, I expect that's what McGonagall will say when I ask of permission," said Harry bitterly.**

"**But if we're with him," said Ron spiritedly to Hermione. "Black wouldn't dare —"**

"**Oh, Ron, don't talk rubbish," snapped Hermione. "Black's already murdered a whole bunch of people in the middle of a crowded street, do you really think he's going to worry about attacking Harry just because we're there?"**

**She was fumbling with the straps of Crookshanks's basket as she spoke.**

"**Don't let that thing out!" Ron said, but too late; Crookshanks leapt lightly from the basket, stretched, yawned, and sprang onto Ron's knees; the lump in Ron's pocket trembled and he shoved Crookshanks angrily away.**

"**Get out of it!"**

"**Ron, don't!" said Hermione angrily.**

**Ron was about to answer back when Professor Lupin stirred. They watched him apprehensively, but he simply turned his head the other way, mouth slightly open, and slept on.**

**Remus pretended he was snoring to make sure that they thought he was a sleep again.**

**The Hogwarts Express moved steadily north and the scenery outside the window became wilder and darker while the clouds overhead thickened overhead. People were chasing backwards and forwards past the door of their compartment. Crookshanks had now settled in an empty seat, his squashed face turned towards Ron, his yellow eyes on Ron's top pocket.**

**At one o'clock the plump witch with the food cart arrived at the compartment door.**

"**D'you think we should wake him up?" Ron asked awkwardly, nodding towards Professor Lupin. "He looks like he could do with some food."**

**Hermione approached Professor Lupin cautiously.**

"**Er — Professor?" she said. "Excuse me — Professor?"**

**He didn't move, this time he was asleep.**

"**Don't worry, dear," said the witch, as she handed a large stack of cauldron cakes. "If he's hungry when he wakes, I'll be up front with the driver."**

"**I suppose he is asleep?" said Ron quietly, as the witch slid the compartment door closed. "I mean — he hasn't died, has he?"**

"**No, no, he's breathing," whispered Hermione, taking the cauldron cake Harry passed her.**

**He might not be very good company, but Professor Lupin's presence in their compartment had its uses. Mid-afternoon, just as it had started to rain, blurring the rolling hills outside the window, they heard footsteps outside in the corridor again, and their three least favorite people appeared at the door: Draco Malfoy, flanked by his cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.** **Draco Malfoy and Harry had been enemies ever since they had met on their very first journey to Hogwarts. Malfoy, who had a pale, pointed, sneering face, was in Slytherin house; he played Seeker on the Slytherin Quidditch team, the same position that Harry played on the Gryffindor team. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to exist to do Malfoy's bidding. They were both wide and muscley; Crabbe was taller, with a pudding-bowl haircut and a very thick neck; Goyle had short, bristly hair and long, gorilla arms.**

"**Well, look who it is," said Malfoy in his usual lazy drawl, pulling open the compartment door. "Potty and the Weasel."**

**Crabbe and Goyle chuckled trollishly.**

"**I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley," said Malfoy. "Did your mother die of shock?"**

**Ron stood up so quickly he knocked Crookshanks's basket to the floor. Professor Lupin gave a snort, so much for a short nap thought Lupin to himself making his presence know he didn't want Harry fighting.**

"**Who's that?" said Malfoy, taking an automatic step backward as he spotted Lupin.**

"**New teacher," said Harry, who got to his feet, too, in case he needed to hold Ron back. "What were you saying, Malfoy?"**

**Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed; he wasn't fool enough to pick a fight right under a teacher's nose.**

"**C'mon," he muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they disappeared.**

**Harry and Ron sat down again, Ron massaging his knuckles.**

"**I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year," he said angrily. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of his head and —"**

**Ron made a violent gesture in midair.**

"**Ron," hissed Hermione, pointing at Professor Lupin, "be careful…"**

**But Professor Lupin was still fast asleep, or was he?**

**The rain thickened as the train sped yet farther north; the windows were now a solid, shimmering gray, which gradually darkened until lanterns flickered into life all along the corridors and over the luggage racks. The train rattled, the rain hammered, the wind roared, but still, Professor Lupin slept.**

"**We must be nearly there," said Ron, leaning forward to look past Professor Lupin at the now completely black window.**

**The words had hardly left him when the train started to slow down.**

"**Great," said Ron, getting up and walking carefully past Professor Lupin to try and see outside. "I'm starving. I want to get to the feast…"**

"**We can't be there yet," said Hermione, checking her watch.**

"**So why're we stopping?"**

**The train was getting slower and slower. As the noise of the pistons fell away, the wind and rain sounded louder than ever against the windows.**

**Harry, who was nearest the door, got up to look into the corridor. All along the carriage, heads were sticking curiously out of their compartments.**

**The train came to a stop with a jolt, and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness.**

"**What's going on?" said Ron's voice from behind Harry.**

"**Ouch!" gasped Hermione. "Ron, that was my foot!"**

**Harry felt his way back to his seat.**

"**D'you think we've broken down?"**

"**Dunno…"**

**There was a squeaking sound, and Harry saw the dim black outline of Ron, wiping a patch clean on the window and peering out.**

"**There's something moving out there," Ron said. "I think people are coming aboard…"**

**The compartment door suddenly opened and someone fell painfully over Harry's legs.**

"**Sorry! D'you know what's going on? Ouch! Sorry —"**

"**Hullo, Neville," said Harry, feeling around in the dark and pulling Neville up by his cloak.**

"**Harry? Is that you? What's happening?"**

"**No idea! Sit down —"**

**There was a loud hissing and a yelp of pain; Neville had tried to sit on Crookshanks.**

"**I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," came Hermione's voice. Harry felt her pass him, heard the door slide open again, and then a thud and two loud squeals of pain.**

**Ginny went to sit by her brother.**

"**Ouch!" said Neville.**

"**Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly.**

**Professor Lupin appeared to have woken up at last.**

**Harry could hear movements in his corner.**

**None of them spoke.**

**There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. **

**They illuminated his tired, gray face, but his eyes looked alert and wary.**

**Harry was at awe not only because Professor Lupin holding the flames in his hands but he looked cool as well. He didn't know why but for some reason he looked oddly familiar. Harry also noticed Lupin's face with several cuts and scars along with his reddish brown circle beard making him even more cooler looking. **

"**Stay where you are." he said in the same hoarse voice, and he got slowly to his feet with his handful of fire held out in front of him.**

**But the door slid slowly open before Lupin could reach it.**

**Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flames in Lupin's hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Harry's eyes darted downward, and what he saw made his stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water…**

**But it was visible only for a split second. As though the creature beneath the cloak sensed Harry's gaze, the hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of its black cloak.**

**And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings.**

**An intense cold swept over them all. Harry felt his own breath catch in his chest. The cold went deeper than his skin. It was inside his chest, it was inside his very heart…**

**Harry's eyes rolled up into his head. He couldn't see. He was drowning in cold. There was a rushing in his ears as though of water. He was being dragged downward, the roaring growing louder…**

**And then, from far away, he heard screaming, terrible, terrified, pleading screams. He wanted to help whoever it was, he tried to move his arms, but couldn't… a thick white fog was swirling around him, inside him and then from hearing the screams he saw what looked like a photo projector playing.**

**At first he thought it he was dreaming, but then he realized whatever that thing was, allowed him to see and hear memories. Not just any memories, memories of his parents. He saw his dad and mom playing and laughing with him and tickling him.**

**Then he saw another, but this time it was with his Professor who looked just about the same except less scares and less few gray hair reading to him, singing him to sleep. He wanted more, but-**

"**Harry! Harry! Are you all right?"**

**Someone was asking him gently.**

**Harry opened his eyes; there were lanterns above him, and the floor was shaking — the Hogwarts Express was moving again and the lights had come back on. He seemed to have slid out of his seat, but Professor Lupin had caught him before he fell onto the floor. Ron and Hermione were kneeling next to him, and above them he could see Neville and Professor Lupin was holding him his lap. Harry felt very sick; when he put up his hand to push his glasses back on, he felt cold sweat on his face.**

**Lupin helped him back onto his seat.**

"**Are you okay?" Ron asked nervously.**

"**Yeah," said Harry, looking quickly toward the door. The hooded creature had vanished. "What happened? Where's that — that thing? Who screamed?"**

"**No one screamed," said Ron, more nervously still.**

**Harry looked around the bright compartment. Ginny and Neville looked back at him, both very pale.**

"**But I heard screaming —"**

**A loud snap made them all jump. Professor Lupin was breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces.**

"**Here," he said to Harry, handing him a particularly large piece. "Eat it. It'll help."**

**Harry took the chocolate but didn't eat it.**

"**What was that thing?" he asked Lupin.**

"**A Dementor," said Lupin, who was now giving chocolate to everyone else. "One of the Dementors of Azkaban."**

**Everyone stared at him. Professor Lupin crumpled up the empty chocolate wrapper and burned it with the same flame that Harry saw before passing out.**

"**Eat," he repeated. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me…"**

**He strolled past Harry, patted him on the shoulder, and started to disappear into the corridor, but Harry spoke, "Thanks Moony." **

**There his Professor froze, his friends gave him a confused look; Lupin turned around slowly and gave his pup a smile, "Your welcome Pup." The two started at each other for a few seconds before Lupin turned around and disappeared.**

"**Are you sure you're okay, Harry?" said Hermione, watching Harry anxiously.**

"**I don't get it… what happened?" said Harry, wiping more sweat off his face and biting into the chocolate where he got a warm feeling sensation.**

"**Well — that thing — the Dementor — stood there and looked around (I mean, I think it did, I couldn't see its face) — and you — you —"**

"**I thought you were having a fit or something," said Ron, who still looked scared. "You went sort of rigid and went to fall off your seat, but Professor Lupin caught you —"**

"**And Professor Lupin pulled out his wand," said Hermione, "and he said, 'None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.' But the Dementor didn't move, so Lupin muttered something, and a silvery thing shot out of his wand at it, and it turned around and sort of glided away…"**

"**It was horrible," said Neville, in a higher voice than usual. "Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"**

"**I felt weird," said Ron, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. "Like I'd never be cheerful again…"**

**Ginny, who was huddled in her corner looking nearly as bad as Harry felt, gave a small sob; Hermione went over and put a comforting arm around her.**

"**But didn't any of you — fall off your seats?" said Harry awkwardly.**

"**No," said Ron, looking anxiously at Harry again. "Ginny was shaking like mad, though…"**

**Harry didn't understand. He felt weak and shivery, as though he were recovering from a bad bout of flu; he also felt the beginnings of shame. Why had he gone to pieces like that, when no one else had?**

**Professor Lupin had come back. He paused as he entered, looked around, noticed Harry was the only one that took a bit of his piece of chocolate, and said, with a small smile, "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know…"**

"**We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes," said Professor Lupin. "Are you all right, Harry?"**

**Harry didn't know what to say.**

"**Fine," he muttered, embarrassed.**

**They didn't talk much during the remainder of the journey. At long last, the train stopped at Hogsmeade station, and there was a great scramble to get outside; owls hooted, cats meowed, and Neville's pet toad croaked loudly from under his hat. It was freezing on the tiny platform; rain was driving down in icy sheets.**

"**Firs' years this way!" called a familiar voice. Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned and saw the gigantic outline of Hagrid at the other end of the platform, beckoning the terrified-looking new students forward for their traditional journey across the lake.**

"**All right, you three?" Hagrid yelled over the heads of the crowd. They waved at him, but had no chance to speak to him because the mass of people around them was shunting them away along the platform. Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed the rest of the school along the platform and out onto a rough mud track, where at least a hundred stagecoaches awaited the remaining students, each pulled, Harry could only assume, by an invisible horse, because when they climbed inside and shut the door, the coach set off all by itself, bumping and swaying in procession.**

**The coach smelled faintly of mold and straw. Harry felt better since the chocolate, but still weak. Ron and Hermione kept looking at him sideways, as though frightened he might collapse again.**

**As the carriage trundled toward a pair of magnificent wrought iron gates, flanked with stone columns topped with winged boars, Harry saw two more towering, hooded Dementors, standing guard on either side. A wave of cold sickness threatened to engulf him again; he leaned back into the lumpy seat and closed his eyes until they had passed the gates. The carriage picked up speed on the long, sloping drive up to the castle; Hermione was leaning out of the tiny window, watching the many turrets and towers draw nearer. At last, the carriage swayed to a halt, and Hermione and Ron got out.**

**As Harry stepped down, a drawling, delighted voice sounded in his ear.**

"**You fainted, Potter? Is Longbottorn telling the truth? You actually fainted?"**

**Malfoy elbowed past Hermione to block Harry's way up the stone steps to the castle, his face gleeful and his pale eyes glinting maliciously.**

"**Shove off, Malfoy," said Ron, whose jaw was clenched.**

"**Did you faint as well, Weasley?" said Malfoy loudly. "Did the scary old Dementor frighten you too, Weasley?"**

"**Is there a problem?" said a mild voice. Professor Lupin had just gotten out of the next carriage.**

**Malfoy gave Professor Lupin an insolent stare, which took in the patches on his robes and the dilapidated suitcase. With a tiny hint of sarcasm in his voice, he said, "Oh, no — er —Professor," then he smirked at Crabbe and Goyle and led them up the steps into the castle.**

**Hermione prodded Ron in the back to make him hurry, and the three of them joined the crowd swarming up the steps, through the giant oak front doors, into the cavernous Entrance Hall, which was lit with flaming torches, and housed a magnificent marble staircase that led to the upper floors.**

**The door into the Great Hall stood open at the right; Harry followed the crowd toward it, but had barely glimpsed the enchanted ceiling, which was black and cloudy tonight, when a voice called, "Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!"**

**Harry and Hermione turned around, surprised. Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor House, was calling over the heads of the crowd. She was a stern looking witch who wore her hair in a tight bun; her sharp eyes were framed with square spectacles. Harry fought his way over to her with a feeling of foreboding: Professor McGonagall had a way of making him feel he must have done something wrong.**

"**There's no need to look so worried — I just want a word in my office," she told them. "Move along there, Weasley."**

**Ron stared as Professor McGonagall ushered Harry and Hermione away from the chattering crowd; they accompanied her across the entrance hall, up the marble staircase, and along a corridor.**

**Once they were in her office, a small room with a large, welcoming fire, Professor McGonagall motioned Harry and Hermione to sit down. She settled herself behind her desk and said abruptly, "Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead to say that you were taken ill on the train, Potter."**

**Before Harry could reply, there was a soft knock on the door and Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, came bustling in.**

**Harry felt himself going red in the face. It was bad enough that he'd passed out, or whatever he had done, without everyone making all this fuss.**

"**I'm fine," he said, "I don't need anything —"**

"**Oh, it's you, is it?" said Madam Pomfrey, ignoring this and bending down to stare closely at him. "I suppose you've been doing something dangerous again?"**

"**It was a Dementor, Poppy," said Professor McGonagall.**

**They exchanged a dark look, and Madam Pomfrey clucked disapprovingly.**

"**Setting Dementors around a school," she muttered, pushing back Harry's hair and feeling his forehead. "He won't be the last one who collapses. Yes, he's all clammy. Terrible things, they are, and the effect they have on people who are already delicate —"**

"**I'm not delicate!" said Harry crossly.**

"**Of course you're not," said Madam Pomfrey absentmindedly, now taking his pulse.**

"**What does he need?" said Professor McGonagall crisply. "Bed rest? Should he perhaps spend tonight in the hospital wing?"**

"**I'm fine!" said Harry, jumping up. The thought of what Draco Malfoy would say if he had to go to the hospital wing was torture.**

"**Well, he should have some chocolate, at the very least," said Madam Pomfrey, who was now trying to peer into Harry's eyes.**

"**I've already had some," said Harry. "Professor Lupin gave me some. He gave it to all of us."**

"**Did he, now?" said Madam Pomfrey approvingly. "So we've finally got a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his remedies?"**

"**Are you sure you feel all right, Harry?" Professor McGonagall asked gently.**

"**Yes," said Harry.**

"**Very well. Kindly wait outside while I have a quick word with Miss Granger about her course schedule, then we can go down to the feast together."**

**Harry went back into the corridor with Madam Pomfrey, who left for the hospital wing, muttering to herself. He had to wait only a few minutes; then Hermione emerged looking very happy about something, followed by Professor McGonagall, and the three of them made their way back down the marble staircase to the Great Hall.**

**It was a sea of pointed black hats; each of the long House tables was lined with students, their faces glimmering by the light of thousands of candles, which were floating over the tables in midair. Professor Flitwick, who was a tiny little wizard with a shock of white hair, was carrying an ancient hat and a three-legged stool out of the hall.**

"**Oh," said Hermione softly, "we've missed the Sorting!"**

**New students at Hogwarts were sorted into Houses by trying on the Sorting Hat, which shouted out the House they were best suited to (Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin). Professor McGonagall strode off toward her empty seat at the staff table, and Harry and Hermione set off in the other direction, as quietly as possible, toward the Gryffindor table. People looked around at them as they passed along the back of the hall, and a few of them pointed at Harry. Had the story of his collapsing in front of the Dementor traveled that fast?**

**He and Hermione sat down on either side of Ron, who had saved them seats.**

"**What was all that about?" he muttered to Harry.**

**Harry started to explain in a whisper, but at that moment the headmaster stood up to speak, and he broke off.**

**Professor Dumbledore, though very old, always gave an impression of great energy. He had several feet of long silver hair and beard, half-moon spectacles, and an extremely crooked nose. He was often described as the greatest wizard of the age, but that wasn't why Harry respected him. You couldn't help trusting Albus Dumbledore, and as Harry watched him beaming around at the students, he felt really calm for the first time since the Dementor had entered the train compartment.**

"**Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight shimmering on his beard. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, **

**I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast…"**

**Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."**

**He paused, and Harry remembered what Mr. Weasley had said about Dumbledore not being happy with the Dementors guarding the school.**

"**They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises — or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added blandly, and Harry and Ron glanced at each other. "It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the Dementors," he said.**

**Percy, who was sitting a few seats down from Harry, puffed out his chest again and stared around impressively. **

**Dumbledore paused again; he looked very seriously around the hall, and nobody moved or made a sound.**

"**On a happier note," he continued, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.**

"**First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."**

**There was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause. **

**Only those who had been in the compartment on the train with Professor Lupin clapped hard, Harry among them. Professor Lupin looked particularly shabby next to all the other teachers in their best robes.**

"**Look at Snape!" Ron hissed in Harry's ear.**

**Professor Snape, the Potions master, was staring along the staff table at Professor Lupin. It was common knowledge that Snape wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts job, but even Harry, who hated Snape, was startled at the expression twisting his thin, sallow face. it was beyond anger: it was loathing. Harry knew that expression only too well; it was the look Snape wore every time he set eyes on Harry.**

"**As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued as the lukewarm applause for Professor Lupin died away. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."**

**Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at one another, stunned. Then they joined in with the applause, which was tumultuous at the Gryffindor table in particular. Harry leaned forward to see Hagrid, who was ruby red in the face and staring down at his enormous hands, his wide grin hidden in the tangle of his black beard.**

"**We should've known!" Ron roared, pounding the table. "Who else would have assigned us a biting book?"**

**Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the last to stop clapping, and as Professor Dumbledore started speaking again, they saw that Hagrid was wiping his eyes on the tablecloth.**

"**Well, I think that's everything of importance," said Dumbledore. "Let the feast begin!"**

**The golden plates and goblets before them filled suddenly with food and drink. Harry, suddenly ravenous, helped himself to everything he could reach and began to eat.**

**It was a delicious feast; the hall echoed with talk, laughter, and the clatter of knives and forks. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, were eager for it to finish so that they could talk to Hagrid. They knew how much being made a teacher would mean to him. Hagrid wasn't a fully qualified wizard; he had been expelled from Hogwarts in his third year for a crime he had not committed. It had been Harry, Ron, and Hermione who had cleared Hagrid's name last year.**

**At long last, when the last morsels of pumpkin tart had melted from the golden platters, Dumbledore gave the word that it was time for them all to go to bed, and they got their chance.**

"**Congratulations, Hagrid!" Hermione squealed as they reached the teachers' table.**

"**All down ter you three," said Hagrid, wiping his shining face on his napkin as he looked up at them. "Can' believe it… great man, Dumbledore… came straight down to me hut after Professor Kettleburn said he'd had enough… It's what I always wanted…"**

**Overcome with emotion, he buried his face in his napkin, and Professor McGonagall shooed them away.**

**Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined the Gryffindors streaming up the marble staircase and, very tired now, along more corridors, up more and more stairs, to the hidden entrance to Gryffindor Tower, where a large portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress asked them, "Password?"**

"**Coming through, coming through!" Percy called from behind the crowd. "The new password's Fortuna Major!"**

"**Oh no," said Neville Longbottom sadly. He always had trouble remembering the passwords.**

**Through the portrait hole and across the common room, the girls and boys divided toward their separate staircases. Harry climbed the spiral stair with no thought in his head except how glad he was to be back. They reached their familiar, circular dormitory with its five four-poster beds, and Harry, looking around, felt he was home at last.**

Next Chapter Harry and Remus have a little chat. Please review.


	9. Story idea

**Story Idea: I have 2 more story ideas, but I don't have the time to write these ideas plus I wouldn't know how. **

**Idea # 1:**

**I think it would be cool if the Maurader's (minus Peter) with James and Remus parents along with Harry and Teddy Lupin read with their parents and grandparents so they get to know their parents and grandparents, but because they are finding out about the future Book 7 ends differently with Remus, Fred, Collin, and Tonks live more death eaters die instead. Harry and Remus end up having a father/son bond as well.**

**Idea # 2:**

**I keep wondering what it would have been like if Tonks became pregnant after the final battle, so Remus went with the golden trio to hunt the Horcux (same Horcux in book 7). Basically it would be the same except Remus was on the hunt. Same people didn't die from idea 1. **

**If someone does decide to take more ideas please let me know and once in a while let me know what your version for the story is so I can maybe put my input into it as well. Think of it as you write the idea and I give some ideas in this story.**

**Thanks.**

**FatherMoony**


	10. Lupin's Promise

**Lupin's Promise**

Harry could not get to sleep. He kept thinking over and over again on the memories the Dementors forced him to remember. Sure they made him remember the night his parents died, but they also brought Harry memories.

But that was not the main reason why the young boy couldn't sleep. He couldn't sleep was because he remembered everything thing that had to do with his new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who happened to have been friends with his parents.

He had so many questions to ask the young professor. Why now? Did he not care what happened to Harry? Where was he for the last twelve years?

"I see you could not sleep either" a voice brought him out of his train of thoughts. He looked around to see Professor Lupin leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest and his head tilted looking towards Harry.

Harry nodded not taking his eyes off Lupin as he made his way towards Harry and sat next down next to him.

"I forgot how beautiful the common room is" Lupin stated. Harry turned back to staring into nothingness.

After several minutes of silence Harry couldn't take it and asked everything he needed to ask. "Where have you been for the rest of my live?" "Did you think about me at all?" "Why now do you decide to show up in my live?"

"Harry" Remus put a hand on Harry's shoulder to silence him from continuing the questions and let him speak. Harry flinched and moved away from Lupin glaring at him.

"I thought of you everyday. Not once did a day go by that you didn't cross my mind." At this Harry snorts, "If that was the cause you would have come for me."

Harry went to stand up to leave, but Remus moved closer to him and put his arm around his shoulder. Harry tried to get out, but the older man was stronger. Harry started hit into Remus' chest, "We were you? Do you have any idea what I have been through?" Harry couldn't take it anymore he cried letting go for once in his live of trying to being brave.

Remus just held him, rubbing comforting circles around his back until Harry stopped crying and then whipped the tears away, which he noticed Harry flinched again. He couldn't understand why Harry kept flinching he was going to have to ask that but something told him that he had to gain Harry's trust and it was going to take a lot of work to do.

"I know I have not been there for you pup, but I promise I will be there for you from now on." "Yeah right" thought Harry. Harry started beating himself up for crying and then made excuses such as, "It has been a long tiring day" and "It's the Dementors they messed with my head."

"The reason I was not there for you was because your parents meant the world to me. They were there for me more than you know. As for you, I had to heal before I could be there for you. You are the only family I have left now Harry and I know that it will take a long time for you to trust me, so I ask you please to me be there for you and get to know me."

"Why would you want to know me? I would just remind you too much of my parents."

"That's not true, sure I would see some of your parents in you, but you are your own person. And I never stopped loving you like you were my own son."

Harry thought about it, what did he have to lose. Besides he couldn't help but feel the love radiating of the man that was holding him like a parent and it felt nice.

Harry looked into the man's eyes and nodded, "Okay I can try. I mean I would like to know what it feels like to have a parent in your live that someone cares for you."

Remus hugged Harry and Harry returned not even flinching, "Thank you Harry. I promise you won't regret this."

**Please review.**


	11. Tea Leaves

Quick note: I think Harry being raised by his Muggle "family" and him inheriting his passion for learning from his mother would make him top of the class for the males and of course Hermione would be the top in the class for the females, so this is how I am doing this series.

**"Talons and Tea Leaves," **

**When Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next day, the first thing they saw was Draco Malfoy, who seemed to be entertaining a large group of Slytherins with a very funny story. As they passed, Malfoy did a ridiculous impression of a swooning fit and there was a roar of laughter.**

"**Ignore him," said Hermione, who was right behind Harry. "Just ignore him, it's not worth it…"**

"**Hey, Potter!" shrieked Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin girl with a face like a pug. "Potter! The Dementors are coming, Potter! Woooooooooo!"**

**Harry dropped into a seat at the Gryffindor table, next to George Weasley.**

"**New third-year course schedules," said George, passing then, over. "What's up with you, Harry?"**

"**Malfoy," said Ron, sitting down on George's other side and glaring over at the Slytherin table.**

**George looked up in time to see Malfoy pretending to faint with terror again.**

"**That little git," he said calmly. "He wasn't so cocky last night when the Dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?"**

"**Nearly wet himself," said Fred, with a contemptuous glance at Malfoy.**

"**I wasn't too happy myself," said George. "They're horrible things, those Dementors…"**

"**Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?" said Fred.**

"**You didn't pass out, though, did you?" said Harry in a low voice.**

"**Forget it, Harry," said George patting the younger student on the shoulder who gave a questioning look to Hermione and Ron when Harry flinched "Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember, Fred? And he said it was the worst place he'd ever been, he came back all weak and shaking… They suck the happiness out of a place, Dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there."**

"**Anyway, we'll see how happy Malfoy looks after our first Quidditch match," said Fred who draped an arm over Harry's shoulder. "Don't forget the first match is Gryffindor versus Slytherin, thanks to our talented Seeker will flatten the git" he winked and gave a smile to Harry who returned it. **

**The only time Harry and Malfoy had faced each other in a Quidditch match, Malfoy had definitely come off worse. "Thanks Fred, Thanks George, your right," said Harry as he helped himself to sausages and fried tomatoes.**

**Hermione was examining her new schedule.**

"**Ooh, good, we're starting some new subjects today," she said happily.**

"**Hermione," said Ron, frowning as he looked over her shoulder, "they've messed up your timetable. Look — they've got you down for about ten subjects a day. There isn't enough time."**

**"How could you manage that?"**

"**I'll manage. I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall."**

"**But look," said Ron, laughing, "see this morning? Nine o'clock, Divination. And underneath, nine o'clock, Muggle Studies. And —" Ron leaned closer to the timetable, disbelieving, "look— underneath that, Arithmancy, nine o'clock. I mean, I know you're good, Hermione, but no one's that good. How're you supposed to be in three classes at once?"**

"**Don't be silly," said Hermione shortly. "Of course I won't be in three classes at once."**

"**Well then —"**

"**Pass the marmalade," said Hermione.**

"**But —"**

"**Oh, Ron, what's it to you if my timetable's a bit full?" Hermione snapped. "I told you, I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall."**

**Just then, Hagrid entered the Great Hall. He was wearing his long moleskin overcoat and was absent-mindedly swinging a dead polecat from one enormous hand.**

"**All righ'?" he said eagerly, pausing on his way to the staff table. "Yer in my firs' ever lesson! Right after lunch! Bin up since five getting' everthin' ready… hope it'sokay… me, a teacher… hones'ly…"**

**He grinned broadly at them and headed off to the staff table, still swinging the polecat.**

"**Wonder what he's been getting ready?" said Ron, a note of anxiety in his voice.**

**The Hall was starting to empty as people headed off towards their first lesson. Ron checked his schedule.**

"**We'd better go, look, Divination's at the top of North Tower. It'll take us ten minutes to get there…"**

**They finished breakfast hastily, said goodbye to Fred and George, Harry waved to Remus who waved back, and the trio walked back through the hall. As they passed the Slytherin table, Malfoy did yet another impression of a fainting fit. The shouts of laughter followed Harry into the Entrance Hall. This time Harry just kept his head held high and took the twins advice to bit the idiot at Quidditch.**

**The journey through the castle to North Tower was a long one. Two years at Hogwarts hadn't taught them everything about the castle, and they had never been inside North Tower before.**

"**There's — got — to — be — a — short — cut," Ron panted, as they climbed the seventh long staircase and emerged on an unfamiliar landing, where there was nothing but a large painting of a bare stretch of grass hanging on the stone wall.**

"**I think it's this way," said Hermione, peering down the empty passage to the right.**

"**Can't be," said Ron. "That's south. Look, you can see a bit of the lake outside the window…"**

**Harry was watching the painting. A fat, dappled-gray pony had just ambled onto the grass and was grazing nonchalantly. Harry was used to the subjects of Hogwarts paintings moving around and leaving their frames to visit each other, but he always enjoyed watching them. A moment later, a short, squat knight in a suit of armour had clanked into the picture after his pony. By the look of the grass stains on his metal knees, he had just fallen off.**

"**Aha!" he yelled, seeing Harry, Ron and Hermione. "What villains are these, that trespass upon my private lands! Come to scorn at my fall, perchance? Draw, you knaves, you dogs!"**

**They watched in astonishment as the little knight tugged his sword out of its scabbard and began brandishing it violently, hopping up and down in rage. But the sword was too long for him; a particularly wild swing made him overbalance, and he landed facedown in the grass.**

"**Are you all right?" said Harry, moving closer to the picture.**

"**Get back, you scurvy braggart! Back, you rogue!"**

**The knight seized his sword again and used it to push himself back up, but the blade sank deeply into the grass and, though he pulled with all his might, he couldn't get it out again. Finally, he had to flop back down onto the grass and push up his visor to mop his sweating face.**

"**Listen," said Harry, taking advantage of the knight's exhaustion, "we're looking for the North Tower. You don't know the way, do you?"**

"**A quest!" The knight's rage seemed to vanish instantly. He clanked to his feet and shouted, "Come follow me, dear friends, and we shall find our goal, or else shall perish bravely in the charge!"**

**He gave the sword another fruitless tug, tried and failed to mount the fat pony, gave up, and cried, "On foot then, good sirs and gentle lady! On! On!"**

**And he ran, clanking loudly, into the left side of the frame and out of sight.**

**They hurried after him along the corridor, following the sound of his armor. Every now and then they spotted him running through a picture ahead.**

"**Be of stout heart, the worst is yet to come!" yelled the knight, and they saw him reappear in front of an alarmed group of women in crinolines, whose picture hung on the wall of a narrow spiral staircase.**

**Puffing loudly, Harry, Ron, and Hermione climbed the tightly spiraling steps, getting dizzier and dizzier, until at last they heard the murmur of voices above them and knew they had reached the classroom.**

"**Farewell!" cried the knight, popping his head into a painting of some sinister-looking monks. "Farewell, my comrades-in-arms! If ever you have need of noble heart and steely sinew, call upon Sir Cadogan!"**

"**Yeah, we'll call you," muttered Ron as the knight disappeared, "if we ever need someone mental."**

**They climbed the last few steps and emerged onto a tiny landing, where most of the class was already assembled. There were no doors off this landing, but Ron nudged Harry and pointed at the ceiling, where there was a circular trapdoor with a brass plaque on it.**

"'**Sybill Trelawney, Divination teacher,'" Harry read. "How're we supposed to get up there?"**

**As though in answer to his question, the trapdoor suddenly opened, and a silvery ladder descended right at Harry's feet. Everyone got quiet.**

"**After you," said Ron, grinning, so Harry climbed the ladder first.**

**He emerged into the strangest-looking classroom he had ever seen. In fact, it didn't look like a classroom at all, more like a cross between someone's attic and an old-fashioned tea shop. At least twenty small, circular tables were crammed inside it, all surrounded by chintz armchairs and fat little poufs. Everything was lit with a dim, crimson light; the curtains at the windows were all closed, and the many lamps were draped with dark red scarves. It was stiflingly warm, and the fire that was burning under the crowded mantelpiece was giving off a heavy, sickly sort of perfume as it heated a large copper kettle. The shelves running around the circular walls were crammed with dusty-looking feathers, stubs of candles, many packs of tattered playing cards, countless silvery crystal balls, and a huge array of teacups.**

**Ron appeared at Harry's shoulder as the class assembled around them, all talking in whispers.**

"**Where is she?" Ron said.**

**A voice came suddenly out of the shadows, a soft, misty sort of voice.**

"**Welcome," it said. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last."**

**Harry's immediate impression was of a large, glittering insect that he just wanted to swat at. **

**Professor Trelawney moved into the firelight, and they saw that she was very thin; her large glasses magnified her eyes to several times their natural size, and she was draped in a gauzy spangled multicolored ugly shawl. Innumerable chains and beads hung around her spindly neck, and her arms and hands were encrusted with bangles and rings. She reminded Harry of the hippies, which he had read in a Muggle book.**

"**Sit, my children, sit," she said, and they all climbed awkwardly into armchairs or sank onto poufs. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat themselves around the same round table.**

"**Welcome to Divination," said Professor Trelawney, who had seated herself in a winged armchair in front of the fire. "My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye."**

**Nobody said anything to this extraordinary pronouncement. Professor Trelawney delicately rearranged her shawl and continued, "So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. **

**I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you… Books can take you only so far in this field…"**

**At these words, both Harry and Ron glanced, grinning, at Hermione, who looked startled at the news that books wouldn't be much help in this subject. Harry could tell that she was nervous about this subject, but he felt that same way, sure he wasn't as book smart like Hermione, but he still was the top student for the males in his class, but he was a more hands on learner when it came to certain subjects.**

"**Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearing, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future," Professor Trelawney went on, her enormous, gleaming eyes moving from face to nervous face. "It is a Gift granted to few. You, boy," she said suddenly to Neville, who almost toppled off his pouf. "Is your grandmother well?"**

"**I think so," said Neville tremulously.**

"**I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear," said Professor Trelawney, the firelight glinting on her long emerald earrings. Neville gulped. Professor Trelawney continued placidly. **

"**We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, my dear," she shot suddenly at Parvati Patil, "beware a red-haired man."**

**Parvati gave a startled look at Ron, who was right behind her and edged her chair away from him.**

"**In the second term," Professor Trelawney went on, "we shall progress to the crystal ball — if we have finished with fire omens, that is. Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I myself will lose my voice. And around Easter, one of our number will leave us for ever."**

**A very tense silence followed this pronouncement, but Professor Trelawney seemed unaware of it.**

"**I wonder, dear," she said to Lavender Brown, who was nearest and shrank back in her chair, "if you could pass me the largest silver teapot?"**

**Lavender, looking relieved, stood up, took an enormous teapot from the shelf, and put it down on the table in front of Professor Trelawney.**

"**Thank you, my dear. Incidentally, that thing you are dreading — it will happen on Friday the sixteenth of October."**

**Lavender trembled.**

"**Now, I want you all to divide into pairs. Collect a teacup from the shelf, come to me, and I will fill it. Then sit down and drink, drink until only the dregs remain. Swill these around the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside down on its saucer, wait for the last of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of Unfogging the Future. I shall move among you, helping and instructing. Oh, and dear," — she caught Neville by the arm as he made to stand up, "after you've broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue patterned ones? I'm rather attached to the pink."**

**Sure enough, Neville had no sooner reached the shelf of teacups when there was a tinkle of breaking china. Professor Trelawney swept over to him holding a dustpan and brush and said, "One of the blue ones, then, dear, if you wouldn't mind… thank you…"**

**When Harry and Ron had had their teacups filled, they went back to their table and tried to drink the scalding tea quickly. They swilled the dregs around as Professor Trelawney had instructed, then drained the cups and swapped over.**

"**Right," said Ron as they both opened their books at pages five and six. "What can you see in mine?"**

"**A load of soggy brown stuff," said Harry. The heavily perfumed smoke in the room was making him feel sleepy and stupid.**

"**Broaden your minds, my dears, and allow your eyes to see past the mundane!" Professor Trelawney cried through the gloom.**

**Harry tried to pull himself together.**

"**Right, you've got a crooked sort of cross…" He consulted Unfogging the Future. "That means you're going to have 'trials and suffering' — sorry about that — but there's a thing that could be the sun. Hang on… that means 'great happiness'… so you're going to suffer but be very happy…"**

"**You need your Inner Eye tested, if you ask me," said Ron, and they both had to stifle their laughs as Professor Trelawney gazed in their direction.**

"**My turn…" Ron peered into Harry's teacup, his forehead wrinkled with effort. "There's a blob a bit like a bowler hat," he said. "Maybe you're going to work for the Ministry of Magic…"**

**He turned the teacup the other way up.**

"**But this way it looks more like an acorn… what's that?" He scanned his copy of Unfogging the Future. "'A windfall, unexpected gold.' Excellent, you can lend me some. And there's a thing here," he turned the cup again, "that looks like an animal… yeah, if that was its head… it looks like a hippo… no, a sheep…"**

**Professor Trelawney whirled around as Harry let out a snort of laughter.**

"**Let me see that, my dear," she said reprovingly to Ron, sweeping over and snatching Harry's cup from him. Everyone went quiet to watch.**

**Professor Trelawney was staring into the teacup, rotating it counterclockwise.**

"**The falcon… my dear, you have a deadly enemy."**

"**But everyone knows that," said Hermione in a loud whisper. Professor Trelawney stared at her.**

"**Well, they do," said Hermione. "Everybody knows about Harry and You-Know-Who."**

**Harry and Ron stared at her with a mixture of amazement and admiration. They had never heard Hermione speak to a teacher like that before. Professor Trelawney chose not to reply. She lowered her huge eyes to Harry's cup again and continued to turn it.**

"**The club… an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup…"**

"**I thought that was a bowler hat," said Ron sheepishly.**

"**The skull… danger in your path, my dear…"**

**Everyone was staring, transfixed, at Professor Trelawney, who gave the cup a final turn, gasped, and then screamed.**

**There was another tinkle of breaking china; Neville had smashed his second cup. Professor Trelawney sank into a vacant armchair, her glittering hand at her heart and her eyes closed.**

"**My dear boy — my poor dear boy — no — it is kinder not to say — no — don't ask me…"**

"**What is it, Professor?" said Dean Thomas at once. Everyone had got to their feet, and slowly they crowded around Harry and Ron's table, pressing close to Professor Trelawney's chair to get a good look at Harry's cup.**

"**My dear," Professor Trelawney's huge eyes opened dramatically, "you have the Grim."**

**Harry remembered the picture on that book in Diagon Alley that resembled Nightshade, he missed that dog, he just hoped that he would get to see is friend again.**

**Dean Thomas shrugged and Lavender Brown looked puzzled, but nearly everybody else clapped their hands to their mouths in horror.**

"**The Grim, my dear, the Grim!" cried Professor Trelawney, who looked shocked that Harry hadn't looked that scared. "The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen — the worst omen — of death!"**

**Harry felt like laughing, but he decided against it. Everyone was looking at Harry, everyone except Hermione, who had gotten up and moved around to the back of Professor Trelawney's chair.**

"**I don't think it looks like a Grim," she said flatly.**

**Professor Trelawney surveyed Hermione with mounting dislike.**

"**You'll forgive me for saying so, my dear, but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future."**

**Seamus Finnigan was tilting his head from side to side.**

"**It looks like a Grim if you do this," he said, with his eyes almost shut, "but it looks more like a donkey from here," he said, leaning to the left.**

"**When you've all finished deciding whether I'm going to die or not!" said Harry, taking even himself by surprise. Now nobody seemed to want to look at him.**

"**I think we will leave the lesson here for today," said Professor Trelawney in her mistiest voice. "Yes… please pack away your things…"**

**Silently the class took their teacups back to Professor Trelawney, packed away their books, and closed their bags. Even Ron was avoiding Harry's eyes.**

"**Until we meet again," said Professor Trelawney faintly, "fair fortune be yours. Oh, and dear," — she pointed at Neville, "you'll be late next time, so mind you work extra-hard to catch up."**

**Harry, Ron, and Hermione descended Professor Trelawney's ladder and the winding stair in silence, then set off for Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration lesson. It took them so long to find her classroom that, early as they had left Divination, they were only just in time.**

**Harry chose a seat right at the back of the room, feeling as though he were sitting in a very bright spotlight; the rest of the class kept shooting furtive glances at him, as though he were about to drop dead at any moment. He hardly heard what Professor McGonagall was telling them about Animagi (wizards who could transform at will into animals), and wasn't even watching when she transformed herself in front of their eyes into a tabby cat with spectacle markings around her eyes.**

"**Really, what has got into you all today?" said Professor McGonagall, turning back into herself with a faint pop, and staring around at them all. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from a class."**

**Everybody's heads turned toward Harry again, but nobody spoke. Then Hermione raised her hand.**

"**Please, Professor, we've just had our first Divination class, and we were reading the tea leaves, and —"**

"**Ah, of course," said Professor McGonagall, suddenly frowning. "There is no need to say any more, Miss Granger. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"**

**Everyone stared at her.**

"**Me," said Harry, finally.**

"**I see," said Professor McGonagall, she came over and walked over to him, looked him, over and motioned for him to follow him to the front of the class room, which he did. She sat him down in the front row and felt his forehead and then smiled at Harry with her beady eyes. "Then you should know, Mr. Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues —" Professor McGonagall broke off, and they saw that her nostrils had gone white. **

**She went on, more calmly, "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney…"**

**She stopped again, and then said, in a very matter-of-fact tone, "You look in excellent health to me, Harry, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."**

**Hermione laughed. Harry smiled at his professor who gave him another smile and winked at him before moving back up front to teach the class. It was harder to feel scared of a lump of tea leaves away from the dim red light and befuddling perfume of Professor Trelawney's classroom. Not everyone was convinced, however. Ron still looked worried, and Lavender whispered, "But what about Neville's cup?"**

**When the Transfiguration class had finished, they joined the crowd thundering toward the Great Hall for lunch.**

"**Ron, cheer up," said Hermione, pushing a dish of stew toward him. "You heard what Professor McGonagall said."**

**Ron spooned stew onto his plate and picked up his fork but didn't start.**

"**Harry," he said, in a low, serious voice, "You haven't seen a great black dog anywhere, have you?"**

"**Yeah, I have," said Harry. "So did you." At his friends questioning looks he added, "Nightshade."**

**Ron let his fork fall with a clatter.**

"**Probably a coincidence," said Hermione calmly.**

**Ron looked at Hermione as though she had gone mad.**

"**Hermione, if Harry's seen a Grim, that's — that's bad," he said. "My — my uncle Bilius saw one and — and he died twenty-four hours later!"**

"**So it was his time," said Hermione airily, pouring herself some pumpkin juice.**

"**You don't know what you're talking about!" said Ron, starting to get angry. "Grims scare the living daylights out of most wizards!"**

"**There you are, then," said Hermione in a superior tone. "They see the Grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Harry's still with us because he's not stupid enough to see one and think, right, well, I'd better kick the bucket then!"**

**Harry couldn't help but laugh at this.**

**Ron mouthed wordlessly at Hermione, who opened her bag, took out her new Arithmancy book, and propped it open against the juice jug.**

"**I think Divination seems very woolly," she said, searching for her page. "A lot of guesswork, if you ask me."**

"**There was nothing woolly about the Grim in that cup!" said Ron hotly.**

"**You didn't seem quite so confident when you were telling Harry it was a sheep," said Hermione coolly.**

"**Professor Trelawney said you didn't have the right aura! You just don't like being bad at something for a change!"**

**He had touched a nerve. Hermione slammed her Arithmancy book down on the table so hard that bits of meat and carrot flew everywhere.**

"**If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in a lump of tea leaves, I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer! That lesson was absolute rubbish compared with my Arithmancy class!"**

**She snatched up her bag and stalked away.**

**Ron frowned after her.**

"**What's she talking about?" he said to Harry. "She hasn't been to an Arithmancy class yet."**

**Harry was pleased to get out of the castle after lunch. Yesterday's rain had cleared; the sky was a clear, pale gray, and the grass was springy and damp underfoot as they set off for their first ever Care of Magical Creatures class.**

**Ron and Hermione weren't speaking to each other. Harry walked beside them in silence as they went down the sloping lawns to Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was only when he spotted three only-too-familiar backs ahead of them that he realized they must be having these lessons with the Slytherins. **

**Malfoy was talking animatedly to Crabbe and Goyle, who were chortling. Harry was quite sure he knew what they were talking about.**

**Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. He stood in his moleskin overcoat, with Fang the boarhound at his heels, looking impatient to start.**

"**C'mon, now, get a move on!" he called as the class approached. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"**

**For one nasty moment, Harry thought that Hagrid was going to lead them into the forest; Harry had had enough unpleasant experiences in there to last him a lifetime. However, Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there.**

"**Everyone gather 'round the fence here!" he called. "That's it — make sure yeh can see — now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books —"**

"**How?" said the cold, drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.**

"**Eh?" said Hagrid.**

"**How do we open our books?" Malfoy repeated. He took out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope. Other people took theirs out too; some, like Harry, had belted their book shut; others had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips.**

"**Hasn' — hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" said Hagrid, looking crestfallen.**

**Harry raised his hand and showed the rest of the class, he took Hermione's copy and ripped off the Spellotape that bound it. The book tried to bite, but Harry took his finger down its spine, and the book shivered, and then fell open and lay quiet in his hand.**

"**Oh, how silly we've all been!" Malfoy sneered. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"**

"**I — I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to Hermione.**

"**Oh, tremendously funny!" said Malfoy. "Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"**

"**Shut up, Malfoy," said Harry quietly as he handed his friend his book back and gave Hagrid an encouring smile. Hagrid was looking downcast and Harry wanted Hagrid's first lesson to be a success.**

"**Righ' then," said Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his thread, "so — so yeh've got yer books an'… an'… now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on…"**

**He strode away from them into the forest and out of sight.**

"**God, this place is going to the dogs," said Malfoy loudly. "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him —"**

**"Yeah too bad daddy is no longer on the broad of governers, he can't do anything about it."**

"**Shut up, Malfoy," Harry repeated.**

"**Careful, Potter, there's a Dementor behind you —"**

"**Oooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock.**

**Trotting toward them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Harry had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, brilliantly, orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.**

"**Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence.**

"**Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"**

**Harry could sort of see what Hagrid meant. Once you got over the first shock of seeing something that was half horse, half bird, you started to appreciate the Hippogriffs' gleaming coats, changing smoothly from feather to hair, each of them a different color: stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.**

"**So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer…"**

**No one seemed to want to. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, approached the fence cautiously.**

"**Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriffs is, they're proud," said Hagrid. "Easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do."**

**Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't listening; they were talking in an undertone and Harry had a nasty feeling they were plotting how best to disrupt the lesson.**

"**Yeh always wait fer the Hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued. "It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt."**

"**Right — who wants ter go first?"**

**Most of the class backed farther away in answer. Even Harry, Ron, and Hermione had misgivings. The Hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their powerful wings; they didn't seem to like being tethered like this.**

"**No one?" said Hagrid, with a pleading look.**

"**I'll do it," said Harry.**

**There was an intake of breath from behind him, and both Lavender and Parvati whispered, "Oooh, no, Harry, remember your tea leaves!"**

**Harry ignored them and rolled his eyes. He climbed over the paddock fence.**

"**Good man, Harry!" roared Hagrid. "Right then — let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."**

**He untied one of the chains, pulled the gray Hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. The class on the other side of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath. Malfoy's eyes were narrowed maliciously.**

"**Easy now, Harry," said Hagrid quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink… Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much…"**

**Harry's eyes immediately began to water, but he didn't shut them. Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at Harry with one fierce orange eye. "Tha's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Harry… now, bow."**

**Harry didn't feel much like exposing the back of his neck to Buckbeak, but he did as he was told. He gave a short bow and then looked up.**

**The Hippogriff was still staring haughtily at him, but slowly, the Hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow.**

**"All right Harry!"**

"**Well done, Harry!" said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Right — yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"**

**Feeling that a better reward would have been to back away, Harry moved slowly toward the Hippogriff and reached out toward it. He patted the beak several times and the Hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though enjoying it.**

**The class broke into applause, all except for Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were looking deeply disappointed.**

"**Righ' then, Harry," said Hagrid. "I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him!"**

**This was more than Harry had bargained for. He was used to a broomstick; but he wasn't sure a Hippogriff would be quite the same.**

"**Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," said Hagrid, "an' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that…"**

**Harry put his foot on the top of Buckbeak's wing and hoisted himself onto its back. Buckbeak stood up. Harry wasn't sure where to hold on; everything in front of him was covered with feathers.**

"**Go on, then!" roared Hagrid, slapping the Hippogriffs hindquarters.**

**Without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of Harry, he just had time to seize the Hippogriff around the neck before he was soaring upward. It was nothing like a broomstick, and Harry knew which one he preferred; the Hippogriff's wings beat uncomfortably on either side of him, catching him under his legs and making him feel he was about to be thrown off; the glossy feathers slipped under his fingers and he didn't dare get a stronger grip; instead of the smooth action of his Nimbus Two Thousand, he now felt himself rocking backward and forward as the hindquarters of the Hippogriff rose and fell with its wings.**

**Buckbeak flew him once around the paddock and then headed back to the ground; this was the bit Harry had been dreading; he leaned back as the smooth neck lowered, feeling he was going to slip off over the beak, then felt a heavy thud as the four ill-assorted feet hit the ground. He just managed to hold on and push himself straight again.**

"**Good work, Harry!" roared Hagrid as everyone except Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle cheered. "Okay, who else wants a go?"**

**Emboldened by Harry's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. Hagrid untied the Hippogriffs one by one, and soon people were bowing nervously, all over the paddock. Neville ran repeatedly backward from his, which didn't seem to want to bend its knees. **

**Ron and Hermione practiced on the chestnut, while Harry watched.**

**Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak. He had bowed to Malfoy, who was now patting his beak, looking disdainful.**

"**This is very easy," Malfoy drawled, loud enough for Harry to, hear him. "I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it… I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the Hippogriff. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"**

**It happened in a flash of steely talons; Malfoy let out a high pitched scream and next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy, who lay curled in the grass, blood blossoming over his robes.**

"**I'm dying!" Malfoy yelled as the class panicked. "I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"**

"**Yer not dyin'!" said Hagrid, who had gone very white. "Someone help me — gotta get him outta here —"**

**Hermione ran to hold open the gate as Hagrid lifted Malfoy easily. As they passed, Harry saw that there was a long, deep gash on Malfoy's arm; blood splattered the grass and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope toward the castle.**

**Very shaken, the Care of Magical Creatures class followed at a walk. The Slytherins were all shouting about Hagrid.**

"**They should sack him straight away!" said Pansy Parkinson, who was in tears.**

"**It was Malfoy's fault!" snapped Dean Thomas. Crabbe and Goyle flexed their muscles threateningly.**

**They all climbed the stone steps into the deserted entrance hall.**

"**I'm going to see if he's okay!" said Pansy, and they all watched her run up the marble staircase. The Slytherins, still muttering about Hagrid, headed away in the direction of their dungeon common room; Harry, Ron, and Hermione proceeded upstairs to Gryffindor Tower.**

"**You think he'll be all right?" said Hermione nervously.**

"**Course he will. Madam Pomfrey can mend cuts in about a second," said Harry, who had had far worse injuries mended magically by the nurse.**

"**That was a really bad thing to happen in Hagrid's first class, though, wasn't it?" said Ron, looking worried. "Trust Malfoy to mess things up for him…"**

**They were among the first to reach the Great Hall at dinnertime, hoping to see Hagrid, but he wasn't there.**

"**They wouldn't fire him, would they?" said Hermione anxiously, not touching her steak-and-kidney pudding.**

"**They'd better not," said Ron, who wasn't eating either.**

**Harry was watching the Slytherin table. A large group including Crabbe and Goyle was huddled together, deep in conversation. Harry was sure they were cooking up their own version of how Malfoy had been injured.**

"**Well, you can't say it wasn't an interesting first day back," said Ron gloomily.**

**They went up to the crowded Gryffindor common room after dinner and tried to do the homework Professor McGonagall had given them, but all three of them kept breaking off and glancing out of the tower window.**

"**There's a light on in Hagrid's window," Harry said suddenly.**

**Ron looked at his watch.**

"**If we hurried, we could go down and see him. It's still quite early…"**

"**I don't know," Hermione said slowly, and Harry saw her glance at him.**

"**I'm allowed to walk across the grounds," he said pointedly. "Sirius Black hasn't got past the Dementors yet, has he?"**

**So they put their things away and headed out of the portrait hole, glad to meet nobody on their way to the front doors, as they weren't entirely sure they were supposed to be out.**

**The grass was still wet and looked almost black in the twilight. When they reached Hagrid's hut, they knocked, and a voice growled, "C'min."**

**Hagrid was sitting in his shirtsleeves at his scrubbed wooden table; his boarhound, Fang, had his head in Hagrid's lap. One look told them that Hagrid had been drinking a lot; there was a pewter tankard almost as big as a bucket in front of him, and he seemed to be having difficulty getting them into focus.**

"'**Spect it's a record," he said thickly, when he recognized them. "Don' reckon they've ever had a teacher who lasted on'y a day before."**

"**You haven't been fired, Hagrid!" gasped Hermione.**

"**Not yet," said Hagrid miserably, taking a huge gulp of whatever was in the tankard. "But's only a matter o' time, I'n't, after Malfoy…"**

"**How is he?" said Ron as they all sat down. "It wasn't serious, was it?"**

"**Madam Pomfrey fixed him best she could," said Hagrid dully, "but he's sayin' it's still agony… covered in bandages… moanin'…"**

"**He's faking it," said Harry at once. "Madam Pomfrey can mend anything. She regrew half my bones last year. Trust Malfoy to milk it for all it's worth."**

"**School gov'nors have bin told, o' course," said Hagrid miserably. "They reckon I started too big. Shoulda left Hippogriffs fer later… one flobberworms or summat… Jus' thought it'd make a good firs' lesson's all my fault…"**

"**It's all Malfoy's fault, Hagrid!" said Hermione earnestly.**

"**We're witnesses," said Harry. "You said Hippogriffs attack if you insult them. It's Malfoy's problem that he wasn't listening. We'll tell Dumbledore what really happened."**

"**Yeah, don't worry, Hagrid, we'll back you up," said Ron.**

**Tears leaked out of the crinkled corners of Hagrid's beetle-black eyes. He grabbed both Harry and Ron and pulled them into a bone-breaking hug.**

"Why not you too?" Sirius asked Hermione.

"**I think you've had enough to drink, Hagrid," said Hermione firmly. She took the tankard from the table and went outside to empty it.**

"**Ah, maybe she's right," said Hagrid, letting go of Harry and Ron, who both staggered away, rubbing their ribs. Hagrid heaved himself out of his chair and followed Hermione unsteadily outside. They heard a loud splash.**

"**What's he done?" said Harry nervously as Hermione came back in with the empty tankard.**

"**Stuck his head in the water barrel," said Hermione, putting the tankard away.**

**Hagrid came back, his long hair and beard sopping wet, wiping the water out of his eyes.**

"**That's better," he said, shaking his head like a dog and drenching them all. "Listen, it was good of yeh ter come an' see me, I really —"**

**Hagrid stopped dead, staring at Harry as though he'd only just realized he was there.**

"**WHAT D'YEH THINK YOU'RE DOIN', EH?" he roared, so suddenly that they jumped a foot in the air. **

"**YEH'RE NOT TO GO WANDERIN' AROUND AFTER DARK, HARRY! AN, YOU TWO! LETTIN' HIM!" **

**Hagrid strode over to Harry, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the door.**

"**C'mon!" Hagrid said angrily. "I'm takin' yer all back up ter school an' don' let me catch yeh walkin' down ter see me after dark again. I'm not worth that!"**

**He felt Harry flinch and shack, so he released his hold, but kept sterring him back towards the castle, muttering all the way.**


	12. Boggart

**"The Boggart in the Wardrobe," **

**Malfoy didn't reappear in classes until late on Thursday morning, when the Slytherins and Gryffindors were halfway through double Potions. He swaggered into the dungeon, his right arm covered in bandages and bound up in a sling, acting, in Harry's opinion, as though he were the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle.**

"**How is it, Draco?" simpered Pansy Parkinson. "Does it hurt much?"**

"**Yeah," said Malfoy, putting on a brave sort of grimace. But Harry saw him wink at Crabbe and Goyle when Pansy had looked away.**

"**Settle down, settle down," said Professor Snape idly.**

**Harry and Ron scowled at each other; Snape wouldn't have said 'settle down' if they'd walked in late, he'd have given them detention.**

**But Malfoy had always been able to get away with anything in Snape's classes; Snape was head of Slytherin House, and generally favored his own students above all others.**

**They were making a new potion today, a Shrinking Solution. Malfoy set up his cauldron right next to Harry and Ron, so that they were preparing their ingredients on the same table.**

"**Sir," Malfoy called, "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm —"**

"**Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him," said Snape without looking up.**

**Ron went brick red.**

"**There's nothing wrong with your arm," he hissed at Malfoy.**

**Malfoy smirked across the table.**

"**Weasley, you heard Professor Snape; cut up these roots."**

**Ron seized his knife, pulled Malfoy's roots toward him, and began to chop them roughly, so that they were all different sizes.**

"**Professor," drawled Malfoy, "Weasley's mutilating my roots, sir."**

**Snape approached their table, stared down his hooked nose at the roots, then gave Ron an unpleasant smile from beneath his long, greasy black hair.**

"**Change roots with Malfoy, Weasley."**

"**But, sir —!"**

**Ron had spent the last quarter of an hour carefully shredding his own roots into exactly equal pieces.**

"**Now," said Snape in his most dangerous voice.**

**Ron went to shoved his own beautifully cut roots across the table at Malfoy, but Harry trade his and Malfoy's instead.**

"**And, sir, I'll need this shrivelfig skinned," said Malfoy, his voice full of malicious laughter.**

"**Potter, you can skin Malfoy's shrivelfig," said Snape, giving Harry the look of loathing he always reserved just for him.**

**Harry wanted to Snape no and tell him to go where the sun don't shine, but bit it back and took Malfoy's shrivelfig as Ron began working on his potion. Harry skinned the shrivelfig as fast as he could and flung it back across the table at Malfoy without speaking. Malfoy was smirking more broadly than ever.**

"**Seen your pal Hagrid lately?" he asked them quietly.**

"**None of your business," said Ron jerkily, without looking up.**

"**I'm afraid he won't be a teacher much longer," said Malfoy in a tone of mock sorrow. "Father's not very happy about my injury —"**

"**Keep talking, Malfoy, and I'll give you a real injury," snarled Ron holding his knife in the air.**

"– **he's complained to the school governors. And to the Ministry of Magic. Father's got a lot of influence, you know. And a lasting injury like this" — he gave a huge, fake sigh — "who knows if my arm'll ever be the same again?"**

"**So that's why you're putting it on," said Harry, accidentally beheading a dead caterpillar because his hand was shaking in anger, "To try to get Hagrid fired."**

"**Well," said Malfoy, lowering his voice to a whisper, "partly, Potter. But there are other benefits too. Weasley, slice my caterpillars for me."**

**A few cauldrons away, Neville was in trouble. Neville regularly went to pieces in Potions lessons; it was his worst subject, and his great fear of Professor Snape made things ten times worse. **

."

**His potion, which was supposed to be a bright, acid green, had turned —**

"**Orange, Longbottom," said Snape, ladling some up and allowing to splash back into the cauldron, so that everyone could see.**

"**Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one cat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?"**

**Neville was pink and trembling. He looked as though he was on the verge of tears.**

"**Please, sir," said Hermione, "please, I could help Neville put it right —"**

"**I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger," said Snape coldly, and Hermione went as pink as Neville. "Longbottom, at the end of this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happens. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly."**

**Snape moved away, leaving Neville breathless with fear.**

"**Help me!" he moaned to Hermione.**

**Harry was glaring at Snape hoping that some how that Snape would catch on fire and burn. **

"**Hey, Harry," said Seamus Finnigan, leaning over to borrow Harry's brass scales, "have you heard? Daily Prophet this morning — they reckon Sirius Black's been sighted."**

"**Where?" said Harry and Ron quickly. On the other side of the table, Malfoy looked up, listening closely.**

"**Not too far from here," said Seamus, who looked excited. "It was a Muggle who saw him. 'Course, she didn't really understand. The Muggles think he's just an ordinary criminal, don't they? So she phoned the telephone hot line. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone."**

"**Not too far from here…" Ron repeated, looking significantly at Harry. He turned around and saw Malfoy watching closely. "What, Malfoy? Need something else skinned? Like your body?"**

**But Malfoy's eyes were shining malevolently, and they were fixed Harry. He leaned across the table.**

"**Thinking of trying to catch Black single-handed, Potter?"**

"**Yeah, that's right," said Harry offhandedly.**

**Malfoy's thin mouth was curving in a mean smile.**

"**Of course, if it was me," he said quietly, "I'd have done something before now. I wouldn't be staying in school like a good boy, I'd be out there looking for him."**

"**What are you talking about, Malfoy?" said Ron roughly.**

"**Don't you know, Potter?" breathed Malfoy, his pale eyes narrowed.**

"**Know what?"**

**Malfoy let out a low, sneering laugh like a jackel.**

"**Maybe you'd rather not risk your neck," he said. "Want to leave it to the Dementors, do you? But if it was me, I'd want revenge. I'd hunt him down myself."**

"**What are you talking about?" said Harry angrily, but at that moment Snape called, "You should have finished adding your ingredients by now; this potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clear away while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's…"**

**Crabbe and Goyle laughed openly, watching Neville sweat as he stirred his potion feverishly. Hermione was muttering instructions to him out of the corner of her mouth, so that Snape wouldn't see. **

**Harry and Ron packed away their unused ingredients and went to wash their hands and ladles in the stone basin in the corner.**

"**What did Malfoy mean?" Harry muttered to Ron as he stuck his hands under the icy jet that poured from the gargoyle's mouth "Why would I want revenge on Black? He hasn't done anything to me — yet."**

"**He's making it up," said Ron savagely. "He's trying to make you do something stupid…"**

**The end of the lesson in sight, Snape strode over to Neville, who was cowering by his cauldron.**

"**Everyone gather 'round," said Snape, his black eyes glittering, "and watch what happens to Longbottom's toad. If he has managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don't doubt, he has done it wrong, his toad is likely to be poisoned."**

**The Gryffindors watched fearfully. The Slytherins looked excited. Snape picked up Trevor the toad in his left hand and dipped a small spoon into Neville's potion, which was now green. He trickled a few drops down Trevor's throat.**

**There was a moment of hushed silence, in which Trevor gulped; then there was a small pop, and Trevor the tadpole was wriggling in Snape's palm.**

**The Gryffindors burst into applause. Snape, looking sour, pulled a small bottle from the pocket of his robe, poured a few drops on top of Trevor, and he reappeared suddenly, fully grown.**

"**Five points from Gryffindor," said Snape, which wiped the smiles from every face. "I told you not to help him, Miss Granger," but before all the cauldrons exploded and the class quickly ran out of the class room. Snape looked like he was going to go after Harry, but the look in Harry's eyes told him, "If you don't back off," it reminded him too much of Lilly.**

**Harry was still thinking about what Malfoy had said, while Ron was seething about Snape.**

"**Five points from Gryffindor because the potion was all right! Why didn't you lie, Hermione? You should've said Neville did it all by himself!"**

**Hermione didn't answer. Ron looked around.**

"**Where is she?"**

**Harry turned too after trying to control his magic. They were at the top of the steps now, watching the rest of the class pass them, heading for the Great Hall and lunch.**

"**She was right behind us," said Ron, frowning.**

**Malfoy passed them, walking between Crabbe and Goyle. He smirked at Harry and disappeared.**

"**There she is," said Harry.**

**Hermione was panting slightly, hurrying up the stairs; one hand clutched her bag, the other seemed to be tucking something down the front of her robes.**

"**How did you do that?" said Ron.**

"**What?" said Hermione, joining them.**

"**One minute you were right behind us, the next moment, you were back at the bottom of the stairs again."**

"**What?" Hermione looked slightly confused. "Oh — I had to go back for something. Oh no —"**

**A seam had split on Hermione's bag. Harry wasn't surprised; he could see that it was crammed with at least a dozen large and heavy books.**

"**Why are you carrying all these around with you?" Ron asked her.**

"**You know how many subjects I'm taking," said Hermione breathlessly. "Couldn't hold these for me, could you?"**

"**But —" Ron was turning over the books she had handed him, looking at the covers. "You haven't got any of these subjects today. It's only Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon."**

"**Oh yes," said Hermione vaguely, but she packed all the books back into her bag just the same. **

"**I hope there's something good for lunch, I'm starving," she added, and she marched off toward the Great Hall.**

"**D'you get the feeling Hermione's not telling us something?" Ron asked Harry. Harry though, "She is not the only one mate."**

**Professor Lupin wasn't there when they arrived at his first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. They all sat down, took out their books, quills, and parchment, and were talking when he finally entered the room. Lupin smiled and gave Harry a wink, who smiled back, but felt himself turn red, placed his tatty old briefcase on the teacher's desk. He was as shabby as ever but looked healthier than he had on the train or when he talked to Harry, as though he had had a few square meals and some rest.**

"**Good afternoon," he said. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."**

**A few curious looks were exchanged as the class put away their books. They had never had a practical Defense Against the Dark Arts class before, unless you counted the memorable class last year when their old teacher had brought a cageful of pixies to class and set them loose.**

"**Right then," said Professor Lupin, when everyone was ready. "If you'd follow me."**

**Puzzled but interested, the class got to its feet and followed Professor Lupin out of the classroom. Harry was right next him talking to him about his other classes, he laughed when he told him about the tea leaves and patted him on the shoulder, which Harry flinched a little, "Don't worry about it she said the same to me as well." He led them along the deserted corridor and around a corner, where the first thing they saw was Peeves the Poltergeist, who was floating upside down in midair and stuffing the nearest keyhole with chewing gum.**

**Peeves didn't look up until Professor Lupin was two feet away; then he wiggled his curly-toed feet and broke into song.**

"**Loony, loopy Lupin," Peeves sang. "Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin —"**

**Rude and unmanageable as he almost always was, Peeves usually showed some respect toward the teachers. Everyone looked quickly at Professor Lupin to see how he would take this; to their surprise, he was still smiling.**

"**I'd take that gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves," he said pleasantly. "Mr. Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms."**

**Filch was the Hogwarts caretaker, a bad-tempered, failed wizard who waged a constant war against the students and, indeed, Peeves. However, Peeves paid no attention to Professor Lupin's words, except to blow a loud wet raspberry.**

**Professor Lupin gave a small sigh and took out his wand.**

"**This is a useful little spell," he told the class over his shoulder. "Please watch closely."**

**He raised the wand to shoulder height, said, "Waddiwasi!" and pointed it at Peeves.**

**With the force of a bullet, the wad of chewing gum shot out of the keyhole and straight down Peeves's left nostril; he whirled upright and zoomed away, cursing.**

"**Cool, sir!" said Dean Thomas in amazement.**

"**Thank you, Dean," said Professor Lupin, putting his wand away and giving Harry another wink. Harry noticed that Lupin's eyes were twinkling almost like Dumbledore does. "Shall we proceed?"**

**They set off again, the class looking at shabby Professor Lupin with increased respect. He led them down a second corridor and stopped, right outside the staffroom door.**

"**Inside, please," said Professor Lupin, opening it and standing back.**

**The staffroom, a long, paneled room full of old, mismatched chairs, was empty except for one teacher. Professor Snape was sitting in a low armchair, and he looked around as the class filed in. His eyes were glittering and there was a nasty sneer playing around his mouth. As Professor Lupin came in and made to close the door behind him, Snape said, "Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this." He got to his feet and strode past the class, his black robes billowing behind him. At the doorway he turned on his heel and said, "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear." **

**Neville went scarlet. Harry glared at Snape; it was bad enough that he bullied Neville in his own classes, let alone doing it in front of other teachers.**

**Professor Lupin had raised his eyebrows looking between Neville and Snape, but before he turned back to Snape he saw Harry's eyes held a dark fire towards the potions Professor. He smiled to himself, Harry definitely got his mother's temper and possible his mother's wand less magic abilities. He would have to talk to Minerva about that.**

**He turned his attention back to Professor Snape and said,** "**I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation," he said giving the nervous boy a wink, "and I am sure he will perform it admirably."**

**Neville's face went, if possible, even redder. Snape's lip curled, but he left, shutting the door with a snap.**

"**Now, then," said Professor Lupin, beckoning the class toward the end of the room, where there was nothing but an old wardrobe where the teachers kept their spare robes. As Professor Lupin went to stand next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall.**

"**Nothing to worry about," said Professor Lupin calmly because a few people had jumped backward in alarm. "There's a Boggart in there."**

**Most people seemed to feel that this was something to worry about. Neville gave Professor Lupin a look of pure terror, and Seamus Finnigan eyed the now rattling doorknob apprehensively.**

"**Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Professor Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks — I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice.**

"**So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a Boggart?"**

**Hermione and Harry raised their hands, which Professor Lupin called on Harry.**

"**A Boggat has the ability to shape shift into what ever a person fears the most when it come across a person.**

"**Couldn't have put it better myself," said Professor Lupin, and Harry blushed, "Not use to receiving compliments like that."**

"**So the Boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears.**

"**This means," said Professor Lupin, choosing to ignore Neville's small sputter of terror, "that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin, which is what?"**

**Harry decided to answer before Hermione who was next to him, bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet with her hand in the air.**

"**There are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be."**

"**Precisely," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione put her hand down, looking a little disappointed. **

"**It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a Boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a Boggart make that very mistake — tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening.**

'**The charm that repels a Boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a Boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing.**

"**We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please… riddikulus!"**

"**Riddikulus!" said the class together.**

"**Good," said Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville."**

**The wardrobe shook again, though not as much as Neville, who walked forward as though he were heading for the gallows.**

"**Right, Neville," said Professor Lupin. "First things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"**

**Neville's lips moved, but no noise came out.**

"**I didn't catch that, Neville, sorry," said Professor Lupin cheerfully.**

**Neville looked around rather wildly, as though begging someone to help him, then said, in barely more than a whisper, "Professor Snape."**

**Nearly everyone laughed. Even Neville grinned apologetically. Professor Lupin, however, looked thoughtful.**

"**Professor Snape… hmmm… Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"**

"**Er — yes," said Neville nervously. "But — I don't want the Boggart to turn into her either."**

"**No, no, you misunderstand me," said Professor Lupin, now smiling. "I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"**

**Neville looked startled, but said, "Well… always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress… green, normally… and sometimes a fox-fur scarf."**

"**And a handbag?" prompted Professor Lupin.**

"**A big red one," said Neville.**

"**Right then," said Professor Lupin. "Can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?"**

"**Yes," said Neville uncertainty, plainly wondering what was coming next.**

"**When the Boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the form of Professor Snape," said Lupin. "And you will raise your wand — thus — and cry 'Riddikulus' — and concentrate hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big red handbag."**

**There was a great shout of laughter. The wardrobe wobbled more violently.**

"**If Neville is successful, the Boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn," said Professor Lupin. "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical…"**

**The room went quiet. Harry thought… What scared him most in the world?**

**His first thought was Lord Voldemort — a Voldemort returned to full strength. But before he had even started to plan a possible counterattack on a Boggart-Voldemort, a horrible image came floating to the surface of his mind. Then he thought a Uncle Vernon when he was drunk or the summer before his second year. He shivered at both those thoughts and put them to the side.**

**A rotting, glistening hand, slithering back beneath a black cloak… a long, rattling breath from an unseen mouth… then a cold so penetrating it felt like drowning…**

**Harry shivered, then looked around, hoping no one had noticed. Many people had their eyes shut tight. Ron was muttering to himself, "Take its legs off." Harry was sure he knew what that was about. Ron's greatest fear was spiders.**

"**Everyone ready?" said Professor Lupin.**

**Harry felt a lurch of fear. He wasn't ready. How could you make a Dementor less frightening? But he didn't want to ask for more time; everyone else was nodding and rolling up their sleeves.**

"**Neville, we're going to back away," said Professor Lupin. "Let you have a clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward… Everyone back, now, so Neville can get a clear shot —"**

**They all retreated, backed against the walls, leaving Neville alone beside the wardrobe. He looked pale and frightened, but he had pushed up the sleeves of his robes and was holding his wand ready.**

"**On the count of three, Neville," said Professor Lupin, who was pointing his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One — two — three —now!"**

**A jet of sparks shot from the end of Professor Lupin's wand and hit the doorknob. The wardrobe burst open. Hook-nosed and menacing, Professor Snape stepped out, his eyes flashing at Neville.**

**Neville backed away, his wand up, mouthing wordlessly. Snape was bearing down upon him, reaching inside his robes.**

"**R — r — riddikulus! " squeaked Neville.**

**There was a noise like a whip crack. Snape stumbled; he was wearing a long, lace-trimmed dress and a towering hat topped with a moth-eaten vulture, and he was swinging a huge crimson handbag.**

**There was a roar of laughter; the Boggart paused, confused, and Professor Lupin shouted, "Parvati! Forward!"**

**Parvati walked forward, her face set. Snape rounded on her. There was another crack, and where he had stood was a bloodstained, bandaged mummy; its sightless face was turned to Parvati and it began to walk toward her very slowly, dragging its feet, its stiff arms rising —**

"**Riddikulus!" cried Parvati.**

**A bandage unraveled at the mummy's feet; it became entangled, fell face forward, and its head rolled off.**

"**Seamus!" roared Professor Lupin.**

**Seamus darted past Parvati.**

**Crack! Where the mummy had been was a woman with floorlength black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face — a banshee. She opened her mouth wide and an unearthly sound filled the room, a long, wailing shriek that made the hair on Harry's head stand on end — "Riddikulus!" shouted Seamus.**

**The banshee made a rasping noise and clutched her throat; her voice was gone.**

**Crack! The banshee turned into a rat, which chased its tail in a circle, then —crack!- became a rattlesnake, which slithered and writhed before —crack! — becoming a single, bloody eyeball.**

"**It's confused!" shouted Lupin. "We're getting there! Dean!"**

**Dean hurried forward.**

**Crack! The eyeball became a severed hand, which flipped over and began to creep along the floor like a crab.**

"**Riddikulus!" yelled Dean.**

**There was a snap, and the hand was trapped in a mousetrap.**

"**Excellent! Ron, you next!"**

**Ron leapt forward.**

**Crack!**

**Quite a few people screamed. A giant spider, six feet tall and covered in hair, was advancing on Ron, clicking its pincers menacingly. For a moment, Harry thought Ron had frozen. Then —**

"**Riddikulus!" bellowed Ron, and the spider's legs vanished; it rolled over and over; Lavender Brown squealed and ran out of its way and it came to a halt at Harry's feet. He raised his wand, ready, but —**

"**Here!" shouted Professor Lupin suddenly, hurrying forward. Crack!**

**The legless spider had vanished. For a second, everyone looked wildly around to see where it was. Then they saw a silvery-white orb hanging in the air, which Harry thought it look rather odd that his new found idol was afraid of a balloon in front of Lupin, who said, **

"**Forward, Neville, and finish him off!" said Lupin as the Boggart landed on the floor as a cockroach. Crack! Snape was back. This time Neville charged forward looking determined.**

"**Riddikulus!" he shouted, and they had a split second's view of Snape in his lacy dress before Neville let out a great "Ha!" of laughter, and the Boggart exploded, burst into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke, and was gone.**

"**Excellent!" cried Professor Lupin as the class broke into applause. "Excellent, Neville. Well done, everyone… Let me see… five points to Gryffindor for every person to tackle the Boggart — ten for Neville because he did it twice… and five each to question you answered Harry."**

"**Talking excitedly, the class left the staffroom. Harry, however, wasn't feeling cheerful and didn't leave the classroom. Professor Lupin had deliberately stopped him from tackling the Boggart. Why? Was it because he'd seen Harry collapse on the train, and thought he wasn't up to much? Had he thought Harry would pass out again? He had to find out.**

**When Remus turned around he saw Harry looking down at the ground, he sighed and walked over to Harry, put an arm around his shoulder causing Harry to jump.**

"**Sorry Harry I didn't mean to scare you. Is there something wrong pup?"**

Harry opened and closed his mouth, he had showed to much emotion already. He wasn't week, those who show your upset are week and can't take care of himself, but he can't. He just wished he couldn't proved it today with the boggart."

"Harry are you alright" asked a concern Lupin. Harry snapped out of it and looked up at Lupin.

Lupin was now confused and concerned because Harry had an angry expression. Harry growled, "I'm fine and next time stay out of it I don't need help. I could have handled that Boggart without your help; I am not some weakling you know."

Harry storm out of the class room leaving a very shocked Professor. He thought he was making progress and some how he made things worse.

Lupin went and followed Harry.

When Harry reached his dorm he saw his friends and classmate talking excitedly about today's DA class.

"**That was the best Defense against the Dark Arts lesson we've ever had, wasn't it?" said Ron excitedly as they made their way back to the classroom to get their bags.**

"**He seems like a very good teacher," said Hermione approvingly. **

"**But I wish I could have had a turn with the Boggart —"**

" "**What would it have been for you?" said Ron, sniggering. "A piece of homework that only got nine out of ten?"**

"**Harry are okay" Hermione noticed that her friend wasn't talking to either of them.**

"**I'm fine" he growled at a shocked Hermonie who stepped back. Harry turned and stormed to go outside.**

**Ron and Hermione looked at each other and went to follow, but Professor Lupin appeared and told him he would take care of this. They both nodded seeing that they knew their professor was close to their friend.**


	13. Chapter 13

I am sad to say that I will no longer be able to continue writing stories, reading, or using fanfiction due to computer viruses crashing both my lab top and my mother's computer making her lose all her client tax returns. I thank those who have stuck by me and read the beginning of my stories. If you want to continue my stories go for it. We even had two antivirus software installed into our computers. Oh well. I wish everyone good health and the best of luck.

Signing off

Father Moony


End file.
